Marquette-Cincinnati Spread a Pick’em
Carrie Stroup here with your Marquette-Cincinnati spread, which at press time was a pick’em or even. You can get all the latest College Basketball lines at Sportsbook.com here. Claim up to $250 in FREE CASH based on an initial deposit.
Sportsbook.com Line & Total: Pick ‘em & 138.5
Opening Line & Total: Bearcats -1 & 138
No. 8 Marquette can lock up the two-seed in next week’s Big East Tournament when it takes on Cincinnati for a tough conference road test on Wednesday night.
The Golden Eagles continue to cruise through Big East play, winning five consecutive games (SU and ATS) by an average score of 12.6 PPG. Marquette took all it could handle on Friday though, rallying back from an 11-point halftime deficit to defeat West Virginia 61-60 in Morgantown. All three of Marquette’s conference losses came on the road to the three other schools currently in the top four of the Big East standings (Syracuse, Notre Dame and Georgetown), and with the win on Friday, the Golden Eagles are now 5-0 ATS as a road underdog this year. The Bearcats were on the wrong side of a one-point game over the weekend, falling 46-45 at South Florida. Cincinnati has covered in each of its past two games—including an impressive 60-56 win over Louisville on Thursday—but the Bearcats are just 3-9 ATS at home on the season. In the first matchup between these two teams, Cincy had absolutely no answer for Marquette’s versatile forward Jae Crowder, who posted 23 points in a 95-78 blowout win in Milwaukee. Even though Marquette has a big game with third-place Georgetown looming on Saturday, a win here will render it meaningless for seeding purposes in the Big East Tournament.
Just minutes before tip-off of Friday’s game at West Virginia, Marquette announced that three of its starters—including leading-scorer Darius Johnson-Odom (18.4 PPG—2nd in Big East)—would be suspended for the first half for a violation of team rules. Luckily for the Golden Eagles—senior forward Jae Crowder (17.4 PPG, 7.6 RPG) wasn’t one of those players. The 6-foot-6, 235 pound senior scored nine of his 26 points in the first half to weather the storm without some key players, and is averaging 26.3 PPG over his past four games. The versatile forward can score in the low post, but can also knock it down from the beyond the arc (38% 3-pt FG). The Golden Eagles are an undersized squad, but they match up very well against Cincinnati’s guard-oriented lineup, and Crowder will be able to bring Cincy big man Yancy Gates out onto the perimeter to create more space in the lane for this teammates.
The Bearcats were held to a season-low 45 points against South Florida’s stingy defense on Sunday. Despite featuring four double-figure scorers, sophomore Sean Kilpatrick (14.8 PPG, 4.9 RPG) was the only Cincinnati player to score more than eight points (13 points on 6-for-14 FG) in the loss. Cincy has won four home games in a row, but three of them came against sub-.500 Big East opponents. Six-foot-9 forward Yancy Gates (11.9 PPG, 9.3 RPG) will be tasked with guarding Crowder, and must stay out of foul trouble if the Bearcats have a shot to win. Gates has a size advantage on Crowder inside, and Cincy’s guards must look to feed the ball to him inside. If not, the Bearcats will rely heavily on the deep ball, which has served them well this season, averaging 35.8 percent from downtown (3rd in Big East).
- Carrie Stroup, Gambling911.com Senior Reporter
