The Villanova Wildcats are tuning up for a run that they hope ends with a national title. The first step is securing a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, and they can begin to zero in on that with a key road win this week against the Creighton Bluejays.
Creighton is a solid team and has the home court advantage, so it certainly won’t be a walk in the park. Villanova is such a great squad, though, that it should be a comfortable favorite despite the location.
The Wildcats have lost two of their past four games but dominated fellow top-five team Xavier recently and has one of the most talented collections of players in the country. Creighton would love to pull this upset but it will need to play exceedingly well to pull it off.
At 2:30 p.m. ET, tune into ESPN2 for live television coverage of this NCAA basketball game on Saturday, February 24, 2018, at CenturyLink Center Omaha.
We'll have NCAA basketball odds at BookMaker.eu available for this and every game on the college basketball Saturday schedule.
Odds Analysis
Villanova is 24-3 straight up and 17-9-1 against the spread. The Wildcats have covered in six of their 10 road games on the season and have been the favorite in every game this season.
Creighton is 19-9 straight up and 13-14 against the spread. The Bluejays are 9-6 against the spread at home this season. They have only covered one time in eight tries as the underdog and will aim to change that here.
Both teams have hit the “over” the majority of the time, and this one could be setting up as a high-scoring affair.
Last Meeting
Villanova made quick work of Creighton the first time these two teams met. The Wildcats zoomed out to a 15-point lead at halftime and came away with the 98-78 victory.
Villanova was led by Mikal Bridges, who had 21 points. The Wildcats shot 54.4 percent from the field and 48.7 percent from the three-point range. All five starters were in double figures, as Jalen Brunson complemented Bridges with 19 points, four rebounds and four assists.
Creighton got 20 points from Marcus Foster but he didn’t get nearly enough support from the rest of the team. The Bluejays will likely need to score in bunches in able to keep up with Villanova this time, something they were not able to do in the first matchup.
Injury Report
Martin Krampelj will not play in this game or the rest of the season for Creighton as he tore his ACL a few weeks ago. It’s a big blow to the Bluejays, as the sophomore forward was averaging 11.9 points and 8.1 rebounds this season. He was shooting 67 percent from the field and was a nice presence down low when Creighton’s outside shots weren’t dropping.
Creighton still has firepower but there is no doubt the loss of Krampelj is a big one. He wouldn’t have been enough to change the favorite in this game but the Bluejays definitely would have had a better chance of pulling the upset with another key weapon on the floor.
Free NCAA Men’s Basketball ATS Picks
In a few weeks it would not be a surprise to look up and see Villanova making a deep March Madness run. Even though Creighton is a good team that will be in the tournament as well, the Wildcats are on another level.
The Bluejays are good enough to keep this one close at home, but take Villanova to come away with the win to strengthen its resume heading down the stretch.
NCAA Men’s Basketball Odds: Villanova 91, Creighton 83
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