Their stay atop the national rankings didn’t last long, but the Purdue Boilermakers rebounded from their first loss of the season with an overtime win over NC State. There’s another big matchup on the schedule with the Butler Bulldogs waiting in the first round of the Crossroads Classic in Indianapolis. Purdue is one of the best offensive teams in the country scoring at least 90 points six times in 10 games and the Boilermakers will give Butler’s top-20 scoring defense a good test. Butler has won four straight since a three-game slide with two of those wins over DII opponents.
This war on the floor will go down Saturday, December 18, 2021, at 12 p.m. ET at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, IN. 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 Saturday schedule.
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Odds Analysis
Butler’s 7-3 record is a little deceiving since they’ve beaten up on lesser opponents. They beat IUPUI, Central Arkansas and Troy to start the year and have wins over DII Chaminade and Saginaw Valley as part of their current four-game winning streak. In between they lost by 22 to Michigan State, Houston beat them by 18 and Texas AM had a 7-point victory. The Dogs showed us something by knocking off Oklahoma on the road last week, so things aren’t all bad. They just aren’t the same caliber as Purdue.
One week at No. 1 was all the Boilermakers could take. Their first game after elevating to the top spot was a dramatic 70-68 setback to Rutgers on a 40-foot buzzer-beater. Purdue closed as a 13.5-point favorite and was a double-digit favorite in its past three games going 0-3 ATS. They avoided another upset against NC State last time out rallying from a 13-point second half deficit to win in overtime. Overall the Boilermakers are 9-1 SU and 6-4 ATS.
Butler Bulldogs
The Bulldogs don’t score a lot of points so they’ll have to rely on a stingy defense to limit Purdue’s chances. Butler allows just 58.3 points per game to rank among the top-20 nationally and gets its offensive production from several players. I’m sure the guys would love to run and score a lot of points, but that’s not their style. They are a deliberate in their sets and would rather play a half court game. They’ll need to do that against Purdue while making a higher percentage of shots.
There is no No. 1 option on offense with five different players leading the team in scoring. Chuck Harris leads the team averaging 11.6 points but he shoots just 35.7 percent from the floor. He had a huge game to beat Oklahoma scoring 26 points while hitting 4 of 7 three-pointers. Butler trailed 41-28 with 13 minutes to play in the second half but used a 9-0 run to help the rally. Butler has scored 66 points in each of its last two games, both wins, their highest point total against a DI opponent since beating Troy 70-59 in the third game of the season. The UNDER is 7-2 in games that had a betting line.
Purdue Boilermakers
Reaching the top of the college basketball world turned out to be a burden for the Boilermakers. They rolled through their first eight games going undefeated while scoring at least 80 points seven times. Once at the top it’s been a struggle. They were a 13.5-point favorite over a Rutgers team that was missing several players to injury and illness. Sure they took a late lead on a Trevion Williams layup and lost on a three-point shot from just inside midcourt, but they shouldn’t have been in that position to begin with. “When you go on the road you gotta be 10 points better than somebody, because if you allow it to be close, crazy things can happen,” Matt Painter said.
Purdue avoided a second straight upset loss by rallying against NC State. The Boilermakers tied the game late and never led until a three-pointer by Sasha Stefanovic 15 seconds into the extra session. Williams just missed a triple-double in the game getting 22 points, 12 rebounds and nine assists. Williams is one of three players averaging better than 14 points with Jaden Ivey leading the way with 16.4. Purdue ranks among the top-5 nationally in points per game and field goal percentage while hitting better than 40 percent of their threes.
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It’s been a rough go for Purdue since becoming the top team in the land, but they found a way to rally against NC State and they have superior talent to Butler. That doesn’t always mean a victory, but the Dogs have struggled against top competition and I don’t expect that to change on Saturday.
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