Welcome to the Wednesday college hoops slate, sports betting family. Now that conference play is in full swing and the College Football Playoff is officially over, you can expect us to cover the college hardwood a little bit more often around these parts.
I can't wait for this Big East matchup between the Musketeers and the Bluejays. Both of these teams look like they could do some damage in the Big East, and both have NCAA Tournament aspirations. Check out my best bet for Xavier vs Creighton below. Good luck and enjoy the game.
Online sportsbooks opened this line at Creighton -8 on the lookahead line yesterday. A little bit of money has come in on Xavier, so much so that the line is now sitting at Creighton -7.5 at the time of this writing.
As for the game total, there's been some Under money in the market so far. The line opened at 156, and a few spots are now offering 153.5. As always, be sure to shop around for the best price before pulling the trigger on any bet.
Xavier looks to have finally found its footing after some tough losses earlier in the year. The Musketeers have won back-to-back conference games to go to 11-7 overall and 3-4 in the Big East. They've shown a lot more explosiveness on offense of late, so we'll see if that continues.
Tre Carroll leads the X men in scoring, as he's averaging 16.7 points per game and shooting better than 48% from the field. Carroll's been getting lots of help from Roddie Anderson (12.8 ppg) and Jovan Milicevic (11.1 ppg), so Creighton's defense had better be ready to roll tonight at home.
Defense hasn't been a strong point for Xavier so far, as they rank 193rd in points allowed and a pitiful 222nd in effective field goal percentage allowed. However, Pape N'Diaye and the aforementioned Carroll are pretty good shot-blockers, as both average 1.2 rejections per contest.
Creighton is coming off a tough loss at Providence, but that was a nightmare spot for them. The Bluejays had just played an overtime game against Georgetown three days before, so they were a bit gassed. Creighton is 11-8 this year overall.
Josh Dix leads Creighton in scoring, as he's averaging 12.4 points per game and hitting more than 86% of his free throws. Junior forward Jasen Green leads the Jays in rebounding, so he'll be battling for boards against some of Xavier's big men.
Creighton's defense is pretty decent this year. They rank inside the Top 100 in effective field goal percentage allowed and two-point defense. The Bluejays also don't allow a lot of trips to the foul line, which is a nice bonus.
I think this is a good bounce-back spot for Creighton on Hump Day as a small home favorite. The Bluejays are coming off a tough loss to Providence last Friday, but they're still a solid 5-3 in Big East play. Creighton has done pretty well at starting fast, so I like the first half here more than the full game spread.
My first half power ratings make Creighton a 7.5-point favorite in the first half but only a 2-point favorite in the 2nd half. Xavier is coming in fat and happy off back-to-back wins. It does concern me that they have a 2-day rest edge over Creighton, but I think we see a focused Bluejays squad here at home.
Creighton ranks 73rd in shooting efficiency, while Xavier ranks a putrid 190th in opponent shooting efficiency. Look for a big night from Josh Dix and Co. Go Jays! Good luck, sports betting family!