Big East This Week: Top 3 Games to Bet

· Jan 18 - 5 minutes read

It is hardly a surprise to see defending national champion UConn tied atop the Big East standings. However, seeing Seton Hall share the top spot is not what many who make NCAA basketball predictions saw coming.

UConn has the longest active winning streak with six victories in a row while Seton Hall has won its last five games. DePaul has lost five in a row after losing 100-62 at home to a Providence team playing without one of its top players.

Big East This Week: Top 3 Games to Bet — Kam Jones #1 of the Marquette Golden Eagles | Patrick McDermott/Getty Images/AFP

All three ranked Big East teams will play on the road on Saturday so perhaps there could be some results to shake up the NCAAB standings.

UConn moved up to No. 1 in both national polls. Marquette dropped six spots to No. 17 in the Associated Press poll and to No. 18 in the USA Today coaches poll. Creighton moved up to No. 15 in the coaches poll and No. 18 in the AP rankings. However, the Bluejays figure to head in the other direction after Wednesday’s loss to UConn. Seton Hall is close to breaking into the top 25 in both polls.

When looking at the college basketball futures odds, UConn is second with +1000 odds of winning the NCAAM championship. Marquette’s odds to win March Madness have moved from +1600 to +2200 in the last week. Creighton is the next closest Big East team with +2500 odds to win it all.

Marquette (12-5 SU, 8-8-1 ATS) at St. John’s (12-6 SU, 10-8 ATS)

1. Date/Time: Saturday, Jan. 20, noon ET
2. TV & Live Stream: TBS.com

The big news is that St. John’s coach Rick Pitino was recently diagnosed with Covid, forcing him to temporarily stepping away from coaching the Red Storm.

Marquette bounced back from a surprising home loss to unranked Butler by rolling past Villanova behind 20-point efforts from Kam Jones and Tyler Kolek.

St. John’s is 7-1 at home this season and just 2-3 on the road so that is something for those who bet online to consider.

Joel Soriano was held under 10 points for the first time this season and matched his season low with four rebounds in a loss to Seton Hall the last time out.

St. John’s is 5-3 against the college basketball spread at home while the Golden Eagles have covered in just one of their four true road games.

St. John’s is tied for the Big East lead with 10 of its games going over the total.

Creighton (13-5 SU, 9-9 ATS) at Seton Hall (13-5, 9-9 ATS)

1. Date/Time: Saturday, Jan. 20, noon ET
2. TV & Live Stream: FS1

Seton Hall has not been a fun team to play at home with wins over defending national champion UConn by 15 points, Big East preseason favorite Marquette by three points and the Rick Pitino-coached St. John’s team by 15 points.

Seton Hall is 9-1 at home and looks to take down another of the Big East heavyweights.

Kadary Richmond was one of four starters to score in double digits in the win over St. John’s. He topped 20 points in the victories against UConn and Marquette.

Creighton missed 20 of 26 3-point shots and managed just 48 points in a 14-point loss to UConn on Wednesday. Utah State transfer Steven Ashworth was the top scorer for the Bluejays in the game.

Creighton has won four of the last six games against Seton Hall and that included a 75-62 road win as the Blue Jays swept the season series in 2022-23.

The Bluejays have been favored in two of the last three games at Seton Hall.

Seton Hall is 6-4 ATS at home this season after covering at home seven times in the entire 2022-23 season. Creighton has covered in just seven of its last 16 games following a loss.

UConn (16-2 SU, 11-6 ATS) at Villanova (11-6 SU, 9-8 ATS)

1. Date/Time: Saturday, Jan. 20, 8 p.m. ET
2. TV & Live Stream: FS1

UConn hits the road for the first time since ascending to the No. 1 spot in both national polls.

The Huskies had no trouble taking care of business against a Creighton team that has had the Huskies’ number since they became conference rivals. It was the first time that UConn was favored on the road against Creighton since 2006.

UConn welcomed back 7-foot-2 sophomore center Donovan Clingan in the win over Creighton. He had six points and five rebounds in 15 minutes off the bench after missing the previous five games.

UConn ROLLED Creighton in Donovan Clingan’s return!

How good is this team with him back on the floor?@RobDauster, @GoodmanHoops and @GottliebShow discuss the Huskies NOW!

AFTER DARK: https://t.co/VwOPXPA4if https://t.co/cwUnTnrZc1

— The Field of 68 (@TheFieldOf68) January 18, 2024

Villanova’s Eric Dixon has six straight double-digit scoring games. Over the last six contests, he is averaging 20.3 points compared to 14.5 points in the two losses.

The good news is that veteran guard Justin Moore returned for the last two games after missing more than a month due to injury.

UConn leads the Big East with its 38-28-1 record against the college basketball spread since the start of last season. Villanova is 23-28 against the spread during that stretch.

Bet On These Top 3 Games