Big East This Weekend: UConn-’Nova Among Top Games to Bet
Even with UConn’s recent road loss to Creighton, the Huskies are closing in on the regular-season title in the Big East with a 2½-game lead and four games left. The race for the No. 2 seed is more compelling with Marquette leading Creighton by a half-game and Seton Hall only a game back.
When it comes to making college basketball predictions, keep in mind that the top five teams in the Big East are a combined 63-8 at home.
The Villanova-UConn rematch and showdown between Butler and Seton Hall are among the games to keep an eye on heading into the weekend.
UConn is the only Big East team undefeated at home in conference play at home while the Huskies join Marquette, Creighton and Seton Hall as teams with winning records on the road.
UConn received 94 first-place votes to remain atop both the national polls. Marquette fell three spots to No. 7 in the Associated Press poll and went from fourth to eighth in the USA Today coaches poll. Creighton is 15th in both polls.
The Huskies are fourth in the NCAA NET rankings and are tied for the national lead with nine Quad 1 wins. Creighton moved from 16th to ninth after the UConn win while Marquette is 13th in the NCAA NET rankings.
When looking at the college basketball futures odds, UConn is first with +500 odds of winning the national championship. Marquette’s odds to win March Madness have moved from +1600 to +2500. Creighton is the next closest Big East team with +3000 odds to win it all.
UConn’s odds to win the Big East title have gone from -800 to -3000 followed by Marquette at +1600 and Creighton at +6000.
1. Villanova (15-11 SU, 15-11 ATS) vs UConn (24-3 SU, 16-11 ATS)
- Date/Time: Saturday, Feb. 24, 8 p.m. ET
- Villanova vs UConn Live Stream: TBS.com
The teams will have a tough act to follow the first game of the season between the Huskies and the Wildcats. Cam Spencer and Tristan Newton each hit a pair of free throws in the final 10 seconds for UConn while a buzzer-beating 3-pointer by Mark Armstrong made it a 66-65 final.
UConn goes after the sweep of the regular-season series, something the Huskies haven’t accomplished since the 2011-12 season.
UConn has won the last three games against Villanova with the previous two finishing under the total. The Wildcats are 6-0-1 against the college basketball spread in their last seven road games versus the Huskies.
After an impressive win over Marquette, the Huskies looked like a different team when they traveled to Omaha to meet Creighton. Despite 27 points and 12 rebounds from Tristan Newton, the Huskies lost by 19 points.
Villanova has won three games in a row with Eric Dixon averaging 17 points in the wins against Seton Hall, Georgetown and Butler.
UConn has covered against the Las Vegas odds in half of its 14 home games while Villanova is 4-5 ATS on the road.
2. Butler (16-11, 12-14 ATS) vs Seton Hall (17-9 SU, 12-14 ATS)
- Date/Time: Saturday, Feb. 24, 8:30 p.m. ET
- Butler vs Seton Hall Live Stream: TBS.com
After seven straight games between Butler and Seton Hall landed under the total, the Bulldogs and Pirates combined for 150 points in the matchup on Jan. 13 in Indianapolis.
It was Seton Hall’s fifth straight win versus Butler. Now the Pirates go after a seventh consecutive home victory against the Bulldogs, who last won at Seton Hall in 2017.
Eleven of Seton Hall’s 17 wins have come at home while Butler is just 3-6 on the road.
Al-Amir Dawes and Kadary Richmond combined for 37 points as Seton Hall topped St. John’s in its most recent game.
Butler has dropped three consecutive games with leading scorer Pierre Brooks shooting 5-for-14 in back-to-back contests against Creighton and Villanova.
The Bulldogs have covered in four of their nine road games. Seton Hall is just 7-7 against the college basketball spread at home this season.
3. Creighton (20-7 SU, 14-13 ATS) vs St. John’s (15-12 SU, 12-15 ATS)
- Date/Time: Sunday, Feb. 18, noon ET
- Creighton vs St. John’s Live Stream: TBS.com
This game became a little more interesting after St. John’s head coach Rick Pitino unloaded on his players in the post-game press conference after a loss to Seton Hall and then issued an apology a few days later for calling out his players by name.
Rick Pitino didn’t come close to biting his tongue after St. John’s blew a 19-point lead to Seton Hall
Anything and everything was on the table and he left no stone unturned
Quotes from a wild press conference at Belmont Park #SJUBB https://t.co/LVBMC8h65W
— Kevin Connelly (@KevinConnelly24) February 19, 2024
It remains to be seen if any drama off the court will translate to a huge home game for the Red Storm. St. John’s is 9-4 at home and Creighton could still be basking in its takedown of the defending national champion UConn Huskies.
With Creighton’s top four scorers being either juniors or seniors, the Bluejays will likely not be dealing with too much of a letdown.
The matchup between Creighton’s Ryan Kalkbrenner, who averages 17.1 points and 7.3 rebounds, and Joel Soriano, the leading scorer and rebounder for St. John’s, could be an interesting game within the game when it comes to the college basketball picks and parlays.
St. John’s is 7-6 against the spread at home and is tied for third in the Big East with 14 games going over the total. Creighton has covered in seven of its 10 road games.
Questions Of The Day
Which Big East team has had the most games go over the total?
Since the start of the 2022-23 season, 38 Xavier games have landed over the total followed by 35 of UConn’s games finishing over.
Who has the best odds of reaching the Final Four among Big East teams?
UConn has even odds to reach the Final Four while Marquette has +500 odds to reach the Final Four according to the BetUS sportsbook.
