Creighton vs Butler College Basketball Picks, Odds, Predictions 3/11/21

The Butler Bulldogs and the Creighton Bluejays meet in a Big East conference tournament quarterfinal matchup in college basketball action from Madison Square Garden on Thursday night.

The Butler Bulldogs booked their spot in the quarter-finals thanks to a 70-69 win over Xavier in the first round on Wednesday. Chuck Harris led the Bulldogs in scoring with 21 points, all coming in the second half and OT, shooting 7 of 17 from the field with 3 threes while Bryce Golden added 20 points on 9 of 11 shooting with a team-high 9 rebounds and Bryce Nze chipped in 19 points on 7 of 10 shooting including a perfect 4 of 4 mark from three-point range in the winning effort.

The Creighton Bluejays come into the conference tournament as the #2 seed with a 14-6 overall mark as part of their 18-7 overall record this season. Marcus Zegarowski led the Bluejays in scoring and assists with 15.4 PPG and 4.4 APG while Denzel Mahoney is right behind with 13.5 PPG and Damien Jefferson has 12.3 PPG with 5.5 RPG and 2.6 APG this season. Caleb Bishop has 11.2 PPG and 6.1 RPG to lead Creighton on the glass and Mitch Ballock has 10.6 PPG with 3.1 RPG and 2.5 APG to cap off the group of double-digit scorers for Creighton up to this point in the season. As a team, Creighton is averaging 78.4 PPG on 48.2% shooting from the field and 36.8% from three while allowing 69.1 PPG on 40.9% shooting from the field and 32.3% from three this season.

Butler is 40-17-2 ATS in their last 59 neutral site games as an underdog and 47-21-2 ATS in their last 70 neutral site games while the over is 4-0 in their last 4 games following a win. Creighton is 24-10 ATS in their last 34 games against a team with a losing record and 2-6 ATS in their last 8 Thursday games while the under is 3-1-1 in their last 5 games as a favorite. The favorite is 7-1 ATS in the last 8 meetings between these two teams.

I get why Creighton’s favored here, but how many times have we seen the Bluejays slip up or at the very least disappoint and get themselves involved in a close game when realistically they should be blowing the other team out of the water. This Creighton team has so much offensive potential but they continue to let it slip in random spots. Butler has to be riding a wave of momentum after their win over Xavier on Wednesday and I think at worst they cover this number and potentially put a scare into Creighton here.