NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 Best Bets: Princeton vs. Creighton & Xavier vs. Texas
The Sweet 16 rolls on into the weekend with four more matchups on Friday night. We hone in on the best bets for Princeton vs. Creighton and Xavier battling Texas.
#3 Xavier vs. #2 Texas Odds on FanDuel
- Spread: Xavier +4.5 (-115) | Texas -4.5 (-105)
- Moneyline: Xavier +155 | Texas -188
- Total: OVER 149.5 (-105) | UNDER 149.5 (-115)
The Longhorns are starting to climb into their own tier, right below both Alabama and Houston over recent weeks. They are separating themselves from the remaining challenges. Texas has now won six straight dating back to their Senior Day victory over Kansas nearly three weeks ago, with five of those six wins coming against top 50 KenPom opponents.
They have talent, experience, and depth at every position on the court. Senior Dylan Disu has been the difference in this six-game span.
Entering the stretch, he averaged 7.6 points and 3.7 rebounds in 18 minutes per game. Since then, the Texas native has posted 16.3 points and 8.3 rebounds in 23 minutes per game. He adds another weapon to Texas’s neverending arsenal of talent on this roster.
While Xavier has a sharpshooting offense led by stud transfer Souley Boum, their defense leaves something to be desired. The Musketeers struggled to get stops against Kennesaw State in the opening round, putting themselves in a 13-point hole early on that they could crawl out of, thanks to some hot shooting from deep.
Make that same mistake in the first half against Texas, and they won’t be so welcoming in the final minutes.
The Pick: Texas -4.5 (-105)This team feels like a runaway freight train you do not want to be in front of. Head coach Rodney Terry continues proving the doubters wrong as the interim head coach and has this team playing its best basketball of the season at the perfect time. Back the Longhorns to cover this number in Kansas City on Friday night.
#15 Princeton vs. #6 Creighton Odds on FanDuel- Spread: Princeton +10.5 (-120) | Creighton -10.5 (-102)
- Moneyline: Princeton +390 | Creighton -530
- Total: OVER 140.5 (-110) | UNDER 140.5 (-110)
This game may be home to the most interesting one-on-one matchup in the Sweet 16. The battle of Princeton’s Tosan Evbuomwan and Creighton’s Ryan Kalkbrenner in the paint will be one to watch and may decide the outcome.
Evbuomwan will want to bring Kalkbrenner out of the key, where he often struggles, and use his playmaking ability to find cutting teammates or to create for himself. As for Kalkbrenner, his size advantage over Evbuomwan may open up some paint touches for himself on the offensive end and help him limit his scoring output.
We may see big nights from both of these stars on the interior.
There is one glaring similarity between these two teams on the defensive end: both struggle to force their opponent into turnovers. Both teams rank in the bottom 15 in the nation in opponent turnover percentage.
They each rank in the top 80 in taking care of the ball on the offensive end, which means we could see some offensive rhythm in this matchup. Both teams have shown high levels of offensive success in the opening weekend, which could lead to some fireworks on Friday night.
The Pick: OVER 139.5 (-110)This total feels too low for two teams that won’t be disrupting each other’s offenses too much. If both teams can get comfortable with their ball movement in this one – something they both thrive on – then we could see this one finish well into the 70s. Take the OVER at 140.5.
