NCAA basketball on Friday afternoon and we will see the Baylor Bears take on the Creighton Bluejays in the 3nd round of the NCAA Tournament, which is being played at the AT&T Center in San Antonio, Texas. The game has a start time of 7:45 pm (Eastern) and will be televised on TruTv. Vegas odds have the Bluejays listed as 3.5 point favorites, while the total sits at 142.5.
Stat Pack: The Creighton Bluejays got to this game with a hard fought 76-66 win over Louisiana. The win now has Creighton at 27-7 on the year. Creighton is one of the top offensive teams in the nation, as they rank 22nd in scoring (79.5 ppg), 4th in shooting (49.9%) and 1st in 3 point shooting (42.2%), plus they are also 16th in free throw shooting (75.2%). The offense is led by the best player in the nation in Doug McDermott, who averages 27.0 ppg, while also leading the team in rebounding at 7.1 rpg. Ethan Wragge is the only other player on the team that averages in double figures for the Bluejays at 10.5 ppg. Wragge (47.4%) and McDermott (45.5%) are both deadly from long range, while both players also hit 83% or better from the free throw line. Defensively this is a solid team as they allow just 67.2 ppg on 41.9% shooting.
The Baylor Bears come into this game at 25-11 on the year after they easily bet the Nebraska Cornhuskers in the 2nd round. The Baylor offense averages 75.2 ppg (66th) on 45.6% shooting (103th). The Bears excel from deep, hitting 39.0% from long range, which is 28th in the nation, but they don’t hit free throws well, hitting just 67.2% from the line, which is 264th in the nation. Corey Jefferson leads the team in scoring at 13.6 ppg, while also leading in rebounding at 8.4 rpg. Kenny Cherry leads in assists (5.0), while scoring 11.5 ppg. The best long range threat on the team is Brady Helsip (11.8 ppg), who hits 46.1% of his long range shots. On defense the Bears are pretty average as they allow 68.4 ppg on 42.4% shooting, but they are a good rebounding team as they haul in 38.7 rpg, which ranks 26th in the nation.
Pick: I will go with the under in this one. The Bears have allowed just 68.4 ppg on the year, while the Bluejays have given up just 67.2 ppg. Neither team allows their opponents to shoot all that well and this should be a tight game throughout, meaning we should get allot of walking the ball up the court late in the game. I expect a game in the mid 130's here.
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