The first game of the day on Thursday at the PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh is the Akron Zips and the Creighton Blue Jays. This is a battle between the 14th seed and the 3rd seed out of the Midwest Region. The winner of this game will move on to the second round on Saturday and take on the winner of South Carolina and Oregon.
The Akron Zips come into the game with a 24-10 record. The Zips won three in a row in the MAC Tournament, after finishing second in the regular season. The win on Saturday was a one point win over Kent State.
For Creighton, they are 23-9 on the season. The Blue Jays are 7-3 in their last 10 games. Creighton finished third in the Big East regular season, and fell to Providence last Thursday in the conference tournament.
The Creighton Blue Jays are -12.5 over the Akron Zips in this game.
Akron Zips in the Dance
The Akron Zips are thrilled to be in the NCAA Tournament. The Zips got some luck in the MAC title game and knocked the Golden Flashes off by one. The ZIps fell in the final two regular season games to Eastern Michigan and Western Michigan by an average of 3.5 points.
In non conference play, Akron started the season 4-0, but then fell in their next three games. The first two losses were to tournament teams; Utah State and Drake. The third was against UNLV. The Zips also fell to St. Bonaventure just before the New Year.
The top scorer this season for Akron has been Enrique Freeman. He is one of three Zips scoring double digits per game. Freeman is scoring 18.6 points per game, and also one of the top rebounders in the nation; at 12.9 per game.
Blue Jays can Shoot It
Coach McDermott and his Blue Jays continue to be one of the best shooting teams in all of College Basketball. A staple of the Blue Jays is their ability to knock down shots. The Blue Jays are scoring 80.5 points per game this season, and making more than 10 three point shots per game.
The Blue Jays top scorer is Baylor Scheierman. He is one of four Creighton players scoring double digits per game. Scheierman is at 18.4 points per game, while Trey Alexander is second with 17.6 and Ryan Kalkbrenner is at 17.1 per game.
The Blue Jays started the season with five straight wins. Their first loss of the season came to Colorado State, who won Tuesday night in the play-in game. The Blue Jays also took a non conference loss to UNLV.
Creighton Tops Akron
Akron is scrappy, and can make some shots. But, in the end, the Creighton Blue Jays are going to be ready to go. Creighton was none too pleased about losing in their conference tournament game.
Creighton is one of the best shooting teams in the country, and will control the pace. We like the Creighton Blue Jays at -12.5 over the Akron Zips. Enjoy the game and best of luck with all your College Basketball betting!
