Xavier Musketeers vs Iowa Hawkeyes Prediction, Odds and Picks for Today, 11/14/25

When a double-digit underdog starts attracting market interest, it usually sets off alarms — and Xavier catching this kind of attention is exactly that. There’s a reason Iowa is laying a hefty number, and it’s not because bookmakers suddenly woke up on the wrong side of the bed. It’s because the Musketeers haven’t shown anything resembling reliability. Let’s look at the résumé. Xavier opened the season with 2 shaky wins, barely sliding past Marist and Loyola Marymount despite being favored by 12.5 and 25, respectively. Instead of taking care of business, they flirted with disaster in both games. Then came the reality check: a home matchup against Santa Clara in which the Musketeers were expected to take care of business as 3.5-point chalk. Not only did they fail, they were run out of their own gym by nearly 20. That’s not a one-off stumble,  that’s a pattern of a team playing with fire and finally getting burned.

Now the script flips. Xavier goes from struggling with mid- and low-tier opponents to stepping into Iowa City to face a Hawkeyes team that has looked sharp, organized, and confident from the jump. Iowa brings power conference strength, scoring depth, and early-season cohesion. This is not the environment in w a team already tripping over itself suddenly finds balance. If Xavier can’t separate from Marist or LMU — and gets blasted by Santa Clara — the idea that they’re ready to trade punches with an Iowa squad that is clearly further along in development simply doesn’t hold water. The talent gap, the venue, the momentum, and the metrics all point one direction. Iowa rolls.

Xavier vs Iowa prediction: Iowa Hawkeyes -16.5 (-110) available at time of publishing. Playable to -17.

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