Best of the Rest Rundown: UConn and Creighton Ready To Rumble Again

In the West Coast Conference, Saint Mary’s and Gonzaga take winning streaks of more than 20 games against the next teams up on their schedule.

San Diego State just got back into the Top 25. However, the Aztecs are the underdogs against Utah State on Wednesday night.

Houston moved up from No. 3 to No. 2 in both national polls. The Cougars have 35 first-place votes in the two polls. Marquette broke into the top 10 in both the Associated Press and coaches’ polls while Xavier and UConn each moved up as well.

No. 15 Saint Mary’s is ahead of WCC rival and 16th-ranked Gonzaga after winning the latest matchup between the two. Florida Atlantic dropped out of the AP Top 25 poll and San Diego State is in danger of doing the same.

According to the college basketball playoff odds, Houston (+125) has the best odds to reach the Final Four. UConn (+400) and Gonzaga (+475) come in eighth and ninth while Xavier (+600), Saint Mary’s (+650) and Marquette (+650) aren’t far behind.

Saint Mary’s is priced at -800 and Gonzaga at +500 in the odds to win the WCC title. Houston (-1600) is the overwhelming favorite in the American Athletic Conference title odds while San Diego State (-150) is the front-runner in the Mountain West.

Here’s a look at the upcoming games for the ranked teams for the programs outside of the Power-5 conferences.

Let’s check the latest college basketball news, stats, injury reports, and college basketball lines. We’ve got plenty of NCAA basketball picks for you to consider.

Game of the Week

UConn vs Creighton

• Date, time (TV): Saturday, Feb. 11, 2 p.m. ET (FOX)

So much for the suggestion that UConn can’t beat the teams ahead of them in the Big East standings.

The Huskies (19-6, 8-6) avenged a previous loss to Marquette with a convincing 87-72 victory on Tuesday night. Tristan Newton had a triple-double with 12 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists with Jordan Hawkins draining five 3-pointers in the win.

Newton is the first player in UConn history with multiple triple-doubles in the same season.

Mr. Triple Double 🫡@D1Tristen becomes the only player in UConn history to record 2 triple-doubles in a single season. pic.twitter.com/8Pwj6FZr1R

— UConn Men’s Basketball (@UConnMBB) February 8, 2023

Now comes a tough road test against a Creighton team that is 11-1 at home. The Bluejays have won six straight games, the longest active streak in the conference.

Sophomore Trey Alexander is coming off a 27-point effort for Creighton (15-8, 9-3) and is averaging 15.7 points during the winning streak.

The Blue Jays had won the previous five meetings before UConn’s nine-point win on Jan. 7. It was the fourth straight game in the series to finish under the total.

Creighton is listed by the college basketball odds as a four-point favorite in Wednesday’s game at Seton Hall.

Other Games to Watch

Georgetown Hoyas vs Providence Friars

• Date, time (TV): Wednesday, Feb. 8, 8 p.m. ET (CBS Sports Network)

Providence (17-6, 9-3 in the Big East) puts its perfect home record on the line against a Georgetown team that might be in last place in the Big East, but is playing much better in the last few games.

Ed Croswell matched his season-high with 21 points in the Friars’ overtime loss to Xavier. The Friars had a week to fix things after that defeat.

The good news is that Jared Bynum played 35 minutes in that game, the most since he returned to the court after missing three weeks. He has 30 points and 11 assists in the last two games.

Providence has won four of the last five meetings with Georgetown and has covered against the college basketball betting lines in three of those matchups.

Tulsa Golden Hurricane vs Houston Cougars

• Date, time (TV): Wednesday, Feb. 8, 8 p.m. ET (ESPN+)

Don’t expect too much in No. 2 Houston’s lone game of the week with a five-win Tulsa team coming to town. The Cougars have won four games in a row and lead the AAC by two games in the loss column over Tulane, Temple and Memphis.

Freshman Jarace Walker 20 points per game with 10 3-pointers during the winning streak.

This has been a strange series with the margin of victory being 2, 33, 1, 27, 2 and 39 points. Is it time for another nailbiter?

San Diego State Aztecs vs Utah State Aggies

• Date, time (TV): Wednesday, Feb. 8, 10 p.m. ET (CBS Sports Network)

The Aztecs returned to the top 25. However, will they stay there since Utah State is listed by the sportsbook as the slight favorite.

Matt Bradley is coming off a game when he was 1 of 6 from the field. His teammates picked up the offensive slack in a 20-point win over Boise State. Bradley is averaging a career-low 39.4% from the field.

The Aztecs (18-5, 9-2 in the Mountain West) have won three of the last four against Utah State and that includes a 10-point win at home as a seven-point favorite. It was the third straight game in the series to go over the total.

San Francisco vs Gonzaga

• Date, time (TV): Thursday, Feb. 9, 9 p.m. ET (ESPN2)

The next three games are against teams with winning records so the Bulldogs need to figure things out pretty quickly.

Gonzaga was outrebounded 37-29 in the loss to Saint Mary’s and pulled down just two offensive rebounds as the Gaels attempted 10 more shots than the Bulldogs did.

Rasir Bolton and Julian Strawther look to bounce back after combining for just 14 points in 5 of 15 shootings for the Bulldogs (19-5, 8-2 in the WCC).

Gonzaga has won 25 consecutive games versus San Francisco. When the two teams met on Jan. 5, the Bulldogs escaped with a two-point win when listed by the Las Vegas odds as a 9½-point favorite.

Saint Mary’s vs Loyola Marymount

• Date, time: Thursday, Feb. 9, 10 p.m. ET

This is a dangerous game for the Gaels (21-4, 10-0 in the West Coast Conference). Loyola Marymount already owns a win over Gonzaga. Saint Mary’s is coming off an eight-point victory against Gonzaga to open up a two-game lead in the WCC standings. It was the 12th win in a row for the Gaels.

Despite struggling from 3-point range, freshman Aidan Mahaney led Saint Mary’s with 18 points. He is averaging 16.3 points per game during the winning streak.

The Gaels have won 21 straight against USF. The Jan. 12 meeting landed on the 14-point spread with the Gaels winning 76-62 at home.

Xavier vs Butler

• Date, time (TV): Friday, Feb. 10, 7 p.m. ET (FS1)

Xavier gained sole possession of first place in the Big East without having to take to the court. UConn’s win over Marquette took care of that.

Before meeting Marquette next week, the Musketeers need to take care of business against a Butler team that has just three conference wins.

Xavier (19-5, 11-2) made a season-high 15 3-pointers in Saturday’s win over St. John’s with 7-footer Jack Nunge leading the way by going 4 of 5 from distance.

Each of the last four games between Butler and Xavier finished over the total.

Seventeen of Xavier’s games have finished over the total that season and that is tied for second nationally.

Marquette vs Georgetown

• Date, time (TV): Saturday, Feb. 11, Noon ET (FS1)

A trip to face the Big East cellar-dwelling Hoyas might be just what the doctor ordered after Marquette fell out of a tie for first place in the Big East with a 15-point loss at UConn. Coming into the game, the largest margin of defeat for the Golden Eagles this season was five points. Marquette (19-6, 11-3) averaged 87 points per game following a loss this season.

The Golden Eagles were outrebounded 48-24 and missed 16 of 21 shots from 3-point range in the loss to the Huskies.

Marquette has won six of the last seven games against Georgetown. In the last three meetings, the average margin of victory for the Golden Eagles was 20.3 points.

Something of interest to those who bet online: Marquette’s 16-8-1 record against the spread is the best among Big East teams.