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— Sunday, February 20th Marquette Golden Eagles @ Creighton Bluejays
Fourth place in the Big East is on the line as two tournament hopefuls meet up on Sunday. The Marquette Golden Eagles (17-9, 9-6) travel southwest to face the Creighton Bluejays (19-7, 10-5) in a battle of recently ranked teams. Tipoff is set for 3:00 pm ET at CHI Health Center Omaha in Omaha, Nebraska, on FS1.
These teams played an instant classic on January 1, with Creighton winning in Milwaukee 75-69 in double overtime. Dating back to 1923, Marquette leads the series 56-37, and the last ten games are even at 5-5. The road team has won 10 of the last 13, with the Golden Eagles going 5-1 in their last six trips to Omaha.
Lewis Gets it Done for Marquette
Marquette is 15-11 ATS, and the over is 13-12-1 in their 26 games this season. They are 6-6 away from Milwaukee and just 4-5 in true road games. After winning three straight Big East road games, the Golden Eagles have now lost three straight, at No. 17 Providence, No. 24 UConn, and Butler.
The Golden Eagles rank 89th in the nation in 3-point shooting (35.4%), 97th in scoring (74.3 ppg), and 95th in free throw shooting (74.1). The defense allows 69.8 ppg and ranks 31st in FG defense at 40.1%.
Marquette ended a two-game slide with a 77-66 home win over Georgetown on Wednesday. Kam Jones came off the bench to score 19 points on 5-of-10 shooting from 3-point range, while Kur Kuath had 15 points. Justin Lewis finished with 13 points as the Golden Eagles made 12 3-pointers in the win.
Lewis leads Marquette on the season with 16.8 ppg and 8.0 rpg. Darryl Morsell, a Maryland transfer, averages 12.6 ppg while Tyler Kolek leads the way with 6.0 apg. Jones and Lewis have both made 47 3-pointers while Greg Elliott shoots 44% from deep.
In the New Year’s Day loss to Creighton, Marquette led by three late in the first overtime before the Bluejays hit a buzzer-beater to tie and won in the second overtime. Oso Ighodaro had a career-high 22 points in the loss, while Morsell had 13 points and Kolek had 11.
The Ryan’s Lead Creighton
Creighton is 13-12 ATS, and the under is 16-8-1 in their 25 games. They are 9-3 at home with losses to Iowa State, Xavier, and Arizona State. In conference, they are 5-1 at home with three home games remaining.
Creighton ranks 302nd in the nation, shooting just 31.2% from 3-point range, and they are 231st in scoring at 69.3 ppg. The defense ranks 18th in FG defense (39%) but 142nd in 3-point shooting defense (32.2). The Bluejays allow 65.7 ppg.
The Bluejays split this season with Villanova, beat UConn and Marquette, and got swept by Xavier. Creighton has won four straight games, two at home and two on the road. In Thursday’s win at DePaul, Ryan Hawkins scored 25 points while Ryan Nembhard had 19 and Ryan Kalkbrenner had 12.
On the season, Hawkins leads Creighton with 13.9 ppg while Kalkbrenner scores 11.5 and Nembhard 11.3. Alex O’Connell is the only non-Ryan in the top four in scoring at 12.3 ppg. Hawkins leads CU with 7.4 rpg while Nembhard has 4.3 apg.
In the win at Marquette, Kalkbrenner scored 20 points to lead four players in double figures. Creighton won the rebounding battle by ten and made 11 3-pointers to Marquette’s five.
Betting Analysis
- Marquette Golden Eagles +1 (-105)
- Creighton Bluejays -1 (-115)
- Total Points: 141. Over -110. Under -110
Creighton has a small rotation with only eight players seeing action in more than 13 games this season. That can hurt teams this late in the season with games piling up, but the Bluejays have gotten the job done against the lower part of the Big East standings. There has been no home-court advantage in this series, and the under is a strong lean in this matchup as well.
Betting Pick: Marquette +1 (-105)
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