The No. 10 Villanova Wildcats just got rolled up and smoked at home by the Creighton Bluejays which saw their seven-game win streak go up in smoke. The No. 19 Butler Bulldogs also came out on the wrong end of the scoreboard against Providence over the weekend to fall for only the second time in front of the hometown faithful this season. With that, you’d expect both squads to bring their “A” games to the hardwood on Wednesday night when the team’s close out their regular season rivalry. Butler will be out to even the score after the Wildcats logged the dominant 76-61 win and cover as 3.5-point favorites at online sportsbooks in the first showdown to move to a perfect 5-0 SU and ATS in the last five overall meetings between the two schools.
This Big East showdown takes place on Wednesday, February 5, 2020. Tip-off will be at 6:30 p.m. ET from the Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, IN. The game will be broadcast live on FS1. So make sure to fill out your March Madness Bracket today!
CBB Betting Odds at BookMaker.eu
Odds Analysis
After going into Omaha and handing Creighton a 64-59 defeat as 2-point underdogs back on January 7, Nova likely took to its home hardwood a bit overconfident for the rematch. Fresh off a 76-59 beat down in a covering effort at St. John’s you can understand why. However, it worked against them in the harshest of ways after the Bluejays roared out to a commanding 35-23 first half lead and never looked back en route to handing the Wildcats their first loss in front of the hometown faithful (76-61). Jay Wright’s kids were terrible in every aspect of the game getting outboarded 36-28 while shooting 36 percent from the field compared to their opponent lighting them up for a 51 percent success rate. They’ll attempt to bounce back on the road where the team has won and covered three straight in Big East play.
Butler was the toast of the conference leading up to their home tilt against Seton Hall back on January 15. Since losing that game outright as 5-point favorites, the Bulldogs have managed to win just two of their last five played games and earned a pointspread cover in only one of them; that coming in the 69-64 outright win and cover at Georgetown before returning home to host Providence this past weekend. Dropping the 65-61 decision to the Friars as decided 6.5-point favorites came as quite the surprise. Since starting the season off shooting relatively well from the field, Butler has seemingly crashed back down to earth. Though the offense still ranks No. 32 overall in efficiency per KenPom, its 69 point per game average ranks No. 246 and it ranks No. 123 from beyond the arc. The Bulldogs will look to avoid dropping their third conference home game in this spot.
Recent Meeting
When these teams last met a few weeks back, Butler was in the midst of a two-game losing streak while Villanova was looking to build upon a four-game win streak. Even so, the betting public flocked the way of the Bulldogs catching the points ultimately dropping them down to 3.5-point underdogs from the 5.5-point opener. Once it was said and done, linemakers were proved to be correct in installing the homebased Wildcats the decided favorites after they went on to log the wire-to-wire 15-point victory in a game that combined to go over the 129.5-point closing total. These teams have now combined for high scorers seven of the last 10 times they crossed paths on the hardwood with an average of 144.7 points scored. Though the Bulldogs dramatically outshot the Wildcats from the field, Nova got the job done by knocking 36 percent of its 3-point attempts down while also winning the battle of the boards 38-34. It was also the beneficiary of some extreme home cooking in taking 23 shots from the free throw line compared to Butler’s eight; knocking 21 of them down helped them cruise to the comfy home win and cover.
Prediction
I was personally in the midst of a heater when these two teams matched up and thought it to be ridiculous for the Bulldogs to be catching such a bloated number from the Wildcats regardless of both teams heading in opposite directions. I chose unwisely! Even so, I’m going right back to the well with the Bulldogs in the rematch knowing full well Villanova has had Butler’s number each of the last few seasons. You can bet your bottom dollar LaVell Jordan will be getting in the ref’s ears all game long about the free throw disparity his kids incurred in their visit to Finneran Pavilion a few weeks back. Regardless of the current form of both squads, I still have Butler pegged as the better overall team. Look for Kamar Baldwin to take this game over late and lead his team to the win and ticket cash!
College Basketball Pick: Butler 69, Villanova 61
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