The Connecticut Huskies breezed through their non-conference schedule winning all 11 contests and opened Big East play with three more wins, including a decisive takedown of the Butler Bulldogs in the league opener, getting as high as No. 2 in the national rankings. However, the road has been bumpy since with UConn going down in four of five games when playing as the favorite in all of them. Being at home didn’t help them on Sunday in an 85-74 loss to St. John’s as a 14.5-point favorite. The Huskies look to get back on track with a Sunday matchup against Butler, who they beat 68-46 last month, their sixth straight win and cover in the series.
This college basketball game will go down Sunday, January 22, 2023 at 12 p.m. ET at XL Center in Hartford, CT. The game will be televised live on FOX. We'll have NCAA basketball odds at BookMaker.eu available for this and every game on the college basketball schedule.
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Odds Analysis
Following two straight losing seasons the Bulldogs are over .500, but they’re a long way from being the program that consistently won 20 or more games and reached the NCAA Tournament. The hiring of Thad Matta, who started his coaching career at Butler and reached the tournament in 2001, was a step toward restoring pride. Matta has a career winning percentage over 73 with most of that success at Ohio State. The Bulldogs had a nice non-conference run going 8-3 SU and 7-3-1 ATS, but the start of Big East play showed how far off they are. They dropped the first three league games to UConn, Creighton and Providence all by 20 or more points. And their three Big East wins are over teams below .500 overall.
A date with Butler might be all the Huskies need to snap out of their funk. Following their 14-0 start UConn dropped four of five with three of those setbacks by double-digits. They are 1-4 ATS in those five games and 1-6 ATS in their last seven overall. The Huskies opened Big East play with three straight wins starting with a 68-46 payout victory over Butler. UConn has never lost to the Bulldogs winning all six meetings by at least 12 points while going 6-0 ATS.
Butler Bulldogs
One thing preventing Butler from having a better record or even from being more competitive in the Big East is struggles on offense. They average 69 points for the season with that number dropping to 61.7 in league games. They’ve been held to fewer than 60 points five times cashing the UNDER in seven of their nine Big East tilts. Five of their six Big East losses were by 20 or more points with the other a 16-point setback leaving Butler at 2-6-1 ATS over its last nine outings.
They play well enough defensively allowing opponents to shoot just 31.4 percent from three-point range and less than 67 points per game. And another issue is the health of leading scorer Manny Bates, who missed the previous two games with a knee injury. Bates averages 12.6 points shooting nearly 63 percent from the field. His absence leaves an already thin roster more vulnerable.
Connecticut Huskies
The Huskies could be ripe for picking as they attempt to navigate themselves out of a slump that dropped them into the middle of the pack in the Big East standings. And something happened over the weekend that doesn’t always occur. UConn entered its game with St. John’s with a perfect 10-0 home record this season and wins in 15 straight home contests. Losing to the Johnnies as a 14.5-point favorite should at least give Butler a hint of a chance since it had been more than three decades since the Red Storm last won in Hartford.
The Big East is a rugged conference with eight teams having a winning record. And any team can win on any day, except for maybe Georgetown. But the Huskies will be amped to play a team they’ve dominated. Leading scorer Adama Sanogo was 13 of 21 for 27 points with 14 rebounds in the first meeting, and the Huskies won by 22 points despite shooting 39 percent from the field and attempting only four free throws.
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The Huskies were laying 7.5-points in the first encounter easily covering. That number will be much higher on Sunday. UConn was taken out of its game by an aggressive St. John’s approach and that game plan probably won’t work this time. And Butler can’t afford to have players disqualified since the roster is thin. That works well for the Huskies continuing their dominance in the series.
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