The 12th-seeded UC Santa Barbara Gauchos (22-4) meet the fifth-seeded Creighton Blue Jays (20-8) at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis Saturday for a 3:30 p.m. ET tip-off as the NCAA Tournament begins March Madness season.
Below, we look at the early March Madness Round 1 matchup UC Santa Barbara-Creighton odds and lines. Will one of these teams end up as this year’s National Champion? Don’t forget to check out all of the teams’ March Madness odds.
UCSB is a personal favorite of mine, as I watch its games quite frequently, and even rep the school wearing a hat in my home state of North Carolina. The Gauchos quietly picked up 22 victories during the regular season, and they won each of their three Big West tourney games by eight or more points, covering two of the outings. Their last setback was at UC Riverside on Feb. 27, as the Highlanders avenged a heartbreaking loss the night before. Prior to that, the Gauchos hadn’t lost since a back-to-back at UC Irvine Dec. 27-28. UCSB enjoyed a 9-2 ATS run from Jan. 15-Feb. 26 before closing out the regular season on an 0-3 ATS skid.
UCSB is making its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2011. They have won just once in six previous appearances, topping Houston in the first round of the 1990 installment as a 9-seed, 70-66, before bowing out to top-seeded Michigan State by four points in the second round. The past two appearances for the Gauchos have resulted in a pair of losses by an average of 22.5 points.
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Creighton came up short in the Big East final, falling hard to Cinderella story Georgetown and head coach Patrick Ewing by a 73-48 score. It was easily the worst loss of the season for the Blue Jays, who also fell by seven at home to the Hoyas back on Feb. 3. The Blue Jays spent plenty of time in the rankings this season and were in the NCAA Tournament regardless, but the loss to the Hoyas was rather alarming. They’re just 3-3 SU across the past six, with three of those losses by eight or more points.
The Jays haven’t had a very good recent history in the NCAA Tournament, at least against the number. They’re just 1-5-1 ATS in the past seven as a favorite in the Big Dance, and 1-10-1 ATS in the previous 12 appearances overall in the tournament.
UC Santa Barbara vs. Creighton: Odds, spread and lines
Odds via BetMGM; access USA TODAY Sports’ betting odds for a full list. Lines last updated Monday at 6:30 p.m. ET.
- Money line: UCSB +240 (bet $100 to win $240) | Creighton -300 (bet $300 to win $100)
- Against the spread/ATS: UCSB +6.5 (-110) | Creighton -6.5 (-110)
- Over/Under: 138.5 (O: -110 | U: -110)
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