Butler Bulldogs (10-4) vs Connecticut Huskies (12-2)
2024-01-05 18:30:00 EDT
The Line: Betting Odds: Butler Bulldogs +6.5 -- Over/Under: 145
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The UConn Huskies and the Butler Bulldogs meet Friday in college basketball action from Hinkle Fieldhouse. UConn is 12-2 overall this year following a win over DePaul in their last outing. As for Butler, they lost to St. John’s on Tuesday which dropped the Bulldogs to 10-4 this season. Let’s get into our UConn vs. Butler prediction. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.
UConn Huskies
The Huskies opened up their season on a nice 10-1 run, falling to only Kansas in that time. The wins came versus Northern Arizona, Stonehill, MS Valley State, Indiana, Texas, Manhattan, New Hampshire, North Carolina, AR-Pine Bluff and Gonzaga. After a loss to Seton Hall, UConn beat St. John’s and DePaul in the next pair.
In the DePaul game on Tuesday, the Huskies won easily. UConn was up 38-19 by the break, then hit a 47-27 run in the second half for a commanding 85-56 blowout result. Tops in scoring during the victory was Cam Spencer with his 20 points, six rebounds and one assist in 32 minutes.
Butler Bulldogs
Over on the Bulldogs’ side, they managed a 3-2 run over their first five games this year with losses to Michigan State and Florida Atlantic. Butler beat Penn State, Boise State, Texas Tech, Buffalo, California, Saginaw Valley State and Georgetown in the next seven games before losses to Providence and St. John’s.
Matched up against St. John’s in their latest outing, Butler faced a 45-38 deficit going into the second half. The Bulldogs were outscored 41-32 from there and lost 86-70. DJ Davis led the team on 25 points, while both Pierre Brooks and Posh Alexander scored 11 points apiece.
ANDREW’S FREE UCONN VS BUTLER PREDICTION
I’ll just stick with UConn in this one. The Huskies are fresh off a pretty routine blowout win over DePaul, hitting 58.2 percent from the field and 46.2 percent (12-of-26) from 3-point range with a 35-26 rebounding edge. UConn has failed to hit 70 points in two of their last three games, but they should be able to score pretty well here. Butler has given up 70 or more points in four of their last five.
Speaking of the Bulldogs, they’ve surrendered a combined 171 points over the last two games and really need to figure out a way to slow down the Huskies on Friday. I like Butler to hang around for a little while here, but it should be UConn’s cover to take.
