The Creighton Blue Jays finally stopped the bleeding with a win over cellar dweller DePaul last week. Creighton had been on a skid since it was announced that superstar Maurice Watson Jr. was going to be out for the rest of the season with an ACL tear and the win over DePaul brought them one closer to 20. The Blue Jays will be facing an uphill battle to get to win number 20 though when they face the Butler Bulldogs on Tuesday night.
This was on the floor will go down Tuesday, January 31, 2017, at 7 p.m. ET at Hinkle Fieldhouse. This game will be televised live on FS1. We will have NCAA basketball odds at BookMaker.eu available for this and every game on the college basketball Tuesday schedule.
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Creighton was one of the better ATS teams in the nation before Watson was hurt and barely hung on to cover the spread against DePaul on Saturday. The Blue Jays are still 14-6 ATS overall, but only covered against DePaul by 1.5 points and were hammered in their last road appearance, losing by 20 points to Georgetown as a favorite.
Butler is 13-7 ATS and 7-3 ATS at Hinkle Fieldhouse this year. In each of its last five games, it was a favorite, and the last time the Bulldogs weren’t a favorite, they were an underdog to this same Creighton squad. This team is 6-4 ATS in conference play.
Key Injury
The loss of Watson is a devastating one for Creighton. The Blue Jays relied on Watson to run their offense and set up good looks for teammates and his absence played a large role in Creighton getting throttled by Georgetown a week ago.
Watson was the leading assist man in the country with an average of 8.4 APG and there were times where it looked like he was going to crack the double-digit mark. Additionally, he shot over 50 percent from the field and 47 percent from three and that made him invaluable. Without him, it looks as if Creighton will employ a point guard by committee and hope for the best.
Last Meeting
When these two teams met for the first time, just a little over a month ago, Watson was the star of the show in an 11-point Creighton victory. Watson led all scorers with 21 points on 9 of 14 shooting, but turned the ball over way too much and kept Butler in a game that it should have been totally out of after an off night of shooting.
The Bulldogs hit just 41.3 percent of their field goals, and 57 percent of their free throw attempts, and couldn’t keep pace with such a poor shooting night. The team’s leading scorer, Kelan Martin, went just 3 of 14 from the floor in the loss and the Bulldogs didn’t help each other out with just 11 assists on the night.
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Marcus Foster has been the top dog for Creighton since Watson’s injury and is shooting at a prodigious rate. Foster has averaged a little over 18 shots a game in the four games that Watson has missed time in, but hasn’t been efficient, hitting more than 43 percent from the floor in just one of those efforts.
Foster is taking a bulk of the shots, but there is still a major question mark over who will be the main person to replace Watson. Davion Mintz and Tyler Clement have each seen a big increase in their minutes, but neither player has separated himself from the other in the eyes of Greg McDermott.
If Butler is a short favorite in this one, grab the Bulldogs. They are a more proven commodity than Creighton is and know their places. However, if Creighton is a sizeable underdog, grab the Blue Jays.
College Basketball Odds: Butler 79, Creighton 73
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