3 Best College Basketball Bets and Player Props for Texas vs. Xavier

The play-in round of the men's college basketball tournament in 2025 concludes with the Texas Longhorns and Xavier Musketeers battling to be the 11 seed in the Midwest region.

From the SEC, Texas was one of a record number of teams from the same conference (14). They'll play a pseudo road contest just about an hour from Xavier's campus in Cincinnati. The Musketeers are slight favorites on FanDuel as of now:

To see thoughts on other games, check out our full men's college basketball tournament predictions page. But for Texas-Xavier, here are my favorite bets in FanDuel Sportsbook's college basketball betting odds.

Betting Picks for Texas vs. Xavier

Texas Moneyline (+116)
Texas Over 34.5 Points in the First Half (-111)

Getting an opportunity to fade one of Aidan Cotter's five worst at-large teams in the tourney at plus money is a solid proposition.

Most will check the map and take the "home" side with Xavier in this one, and they'll also get attention from a higher Bart Torvik rank (37th) than Texas (49th) by a decent margin. I can't help but back a Texas squad that went 19-15 through the SEC gauntlet, including six wins over tournament teams in conference play.

Meanwhile, Xavier had just a single win in their 10 Quad 1 games: a road triumph at Marquette.

The Longhorns' two-point, paint-heavy attack is something I like to trust in these neutral site games. Per Torvik, 12.1% of their baskets have come from dunks, and Xavier's rate allowed (8.0%) is above average. I'm also less concerned about Texas allowing 39.3 free-throws per game when the Musketeers take 56.6% of their shots from the mid-range and beyond.

This game's tempo could get glacial late with a true tournament bid on the line, but Texas' offense should travel with them behind a size advantage. I'll take the 'dog to disappoint those who made the hour-long trek to see Xavier.

Arthur Kaluma Over 16.5 Points and Rebounds (-122)

March means leaning on your seniors, and I think Arthur Kaluma steps up as Texas' second-leading scorer.

We already saw that a bit in the SEC Tournament, where Kaluma played 31.0 regulation minutes in the first two of the Horns' contests, totaling 11.5 points and 7.0 rebounds per game in them. He struggled with foul trouble and was limited to 25 minutes in a loss to Tennessee after those.

He's second on the team in usage rate (21.9%) behind freshman Tre Johnson (27.3%). A player as good as Johnson, a projected lottery pick, will probably get Xavier's attention on the scouting report and leave room for others.

Xavier's biggest weakness is generating offensive rebounds (25.2 OREB%). Kaluma is UT's primary defensive rebounder, collecting 22.6% of the team's total this season. He's also scored 70.0% of his points from inside the arc when the Musketeers' two-point field-goal rate allowed (50.5%) ranks just 159th in the country.

In all, this should be a plus matchup for him to score and rebound the ball, and his 130 career starts on now three separate tournament teams have probably prepared him for the moment.

You can also download our FREE college basketball printable bracket.

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The above author is a FanDuel employee and is not eligible to compete in public daily fantasy contests or place sports betting wagers on FanDuel. The advice provided by the author does not necessarily represent the views of FanDuel. Taking the author's advice will not guarantee a successful outcome. You should use your own judgment when participating in daily fantasy contests or placing sports wagers.