Teams with a lot to play for clash when the 16th-ranked Xavier Musketeers face the Seton Hall Pirates in a key Big East Conference battle on Friday. The Musketeers (20-8, 12-5 Big East), who will be without senior forward Zach Freemantle, who has a stress fracture in his foot, are still within striking distance at the top of the conference, two games behind first-place Marquette. The Pirates (16-12, 9-8), who have lost three of four, need to finish strong to make the NCAA Tournament. Xavier defeated Seton Hall 73-70 in the first meeting this season on Dec. 20.

Tip-off from the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, is set for 7 p.m. ET. The Musketeers are 1.5-point favorites in the latest Xavier vs. Seton Hall odds, while the over/under for total points is set at 142.5 (see up-to-date odds for every game this week on our college basketball odds page).

Before you make any Xavier vs. Seton Hall picks or any other college basketball predictions, you NEED to see which side Matt Severance is on. 

Severance is a well-connected writer and handicapper who has worked in the industry since 2005. Over the past two college basketball seasons, he went 391-286 (plus $2,714). Severance also has been on a roll during the 2022-23 college basketball season, going 114-66-1 (plus $2,482) on his last 181 picks. Anyone following him is WAY UP!

Severance knows senior guard Al-Amir Dawes powers the Pirates. He has been red hot of late, scoring in double figures in each of his last seven games, including in 20 of 27 games this year. He is coming off a 16-point performance on Saturday at Connecticut. He had scored 20 points, while grabbing three rebounds in a 76-68 win over Georgetown on Feb. 14. For the season, he is averaging 12.7 points, 2.7 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.2 steals per game.

The expert also is aware that senior guard Souley Boum leads the Musketeers, averaging 16.3 points, 4.6 assists, four rebounds and 1.2 steals per game. He is also red hot from the floor, connecting on 45.5% of his field goals, including 41.1% from 3-point range, and 86.5% from the foul line. He is coming off a 17-point and four-rebound effort against Villanova on Tuesday. In a 69-68 loss at Marquette on Feb. 15, Boum poured in 24 points, while grabbing five rebounds.

Now, Severance has locked in another confident against-the-spread pick for Xavier vs. Seton Hall. We can tell you he's leaning Over the total, but he knows a crucial X-factor makes one side of the spread a MUST-BACK! You ABSOLUTELY need to see what it is before locking in any picks of your own.

Who wins Xavier vs. Seton Hall? And what critical X-factor makes one side of the spread a must-back? ... Join SportsLine right now to see which side of the Xavier vs. Seton Hall spread to jump on, all from the expert who's an outstanding 114-66-1 on his past 181 college basketball picks!