Look of the Day for Tuesday, Feb. 20: Fade UConn? Yup, and here's why
We'd like to dish out a big thank you to Virginia for shooting 32.7 percent from the field and scoring only 41 points against Virginia Tech to cash our Monday Look of the Day. With still no NBA on the schedule, let's go right back to some college hoops for our favorite bet of Tuesday's slate.
Look of the Day: Creighton Bluejays +3.5 vs. UConn Huskies (-110 Caesars)
Anyone interested in fading the hottest team in college basketball? No? Too bad, we're doing it anyway.
UConn has won 14 straight games to improve to 24-2 overall and 14-1 in the Big East, and it's coming off an 81-53 beatdown of No. 7 Marquette over the weekend. The Huskies are No. 1 in the AP Poll and No. 2 in KenPom's adjusted efficiency margin, so this is the highest they've been rated in the betting market all season. Now is the perfect time to play against them.
Creighton did its job defensively in the first matchup by holding UConn to 62 points, its second-lowest mark of the season. The Bluejays held the Huskies to 35.7 percent shooting and 26.3 percent from deep, but they gave up 22 offensive rebounds and made only six of their 26 three-point attempts.
The good news for us Creighton backers is that Greg McDermott's squad averages 86.5 points per game and shoots 37.5 percent from three at home. Compare that to 75.8 points per game and 35.0 percent from three on the road. These shooters feed off the home crowd, and they can ignite quick scoring runs because of the volume of three-pointers they put up.
But the X factor in this game will be 7-foot-1 center Ryan Kalkbrenner. The Bluejays don't stand a chance if they give up another 22 offensive rebounds, but if Kalkbrenner can keep Donovan Clingan and UConn off the glass, we like Creighton to possibly pull off the upset.
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