Auburn vs Creighton Prediction, Preview & Odds: NCAA Tournament Second Round

Originally posted on College Football News
By Pete Fiutak | Last updated Mar 20, 2025 5:24 PM ET

Auburn took a nap through its first round 83-63 win over Alabama State.

There wasn’t any fear of losing, and it played like it for a bit too long. That's a problem after closing the regular season losing three of its last four games.

Creighton was quietly good down the stretch over the second half of the season going 15-4 with the four losses to UConn, St. John’s twice, and Xavier.

It buried Louisville right away in an easy 89-75 first round win, and now it’s looking to do something really special.

Auburn vs Creighton Game Preview

Auburn vs Creighton How To Watch

Date: Saturday, March 22
Venue: Rupp Arena, Lexington, KY
Time: COMING
TV: COMING
Teams: (9) Creighton (25-10), (1) Auburn (29-5)
Region: South
NCAA Tournament Schedule, Predictions, Previews

Why Creighton Will Win

It has the size.

This isn’t a great defensive team, but it has the big guys to holdup against Johni Broome and the Tiger interior, especially on the boards. The Bluejays were third in the nation this season in defensive boards, and it showed against Louisville.

The Cardinals were missing early, Jamiya Neal and Ryan Kalkbrenner cleaned up everything, and off went the Creighton O.

Auburn fouls a ton, Creighton is No. 1 in the nation in fewest fouls, and …

Why Auburn Will Win

The Auburn D from three will matter.

The team might be sputtering a bit, but the aggressiveness on defense is still there. Creighton isn’t all about the three, but kick it inside to the big guys, kick it back out, open three, bang. When that’s working, everything else kicks in.

But the Bluejays went 5-5 this season when failing to hit more than seven threes and were 4-8 when they didn’t make at least 30% from the outside.

Auburn was seventh in the nation in three point defense allowing just 29% from three.

Auburn vs Creighton: Who Will Win?

Creighton is going to score.

It has the ability to hang with Auburn on both ends of the floor, but it doesn’t force enough mistakes. The Tigers will make more consistent use of its possessions than they did over the SEC finishing kick.

To pull this off Creighton has to hit at least 47% of its shots - it’s 21-0 when doing that.

Auburn has allowed just five teams to get there all season. It’ll be a fight, but Auburn will win in a true survive-and-advance battle.

Auburn vs Creighton Prediction, Betting Lines

Prediction: Auburn 84, Creighton 77
Auburn vs Creighton Betting Lines
BetMGM Line: NA, o/u: NA
DraftKings Line: NA, o/u: NA
FanDuel Line: Line: NA, o/u: NA
ATS Confidence out of 5: COMING

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