T.M. Selection: Creighton.

I like Creighton to cover the spread against Villanova in this game on Friday. Creighton has looked good in their games lately and they will be playing this game on their home court to start off their conference play this year. With this being the 1st game of their conference play, I expect Creighton to play hard here and put up a good fight at home against this ranked conference rival. Creighton has lost 2 of their previous 3 games but 1 of those losses was against the 11th ranked Iowa State and the other was against Arizona State but they lost that game by 1 point and they lost the game to Iowa State by 6 points. They have only lost 3 games this year and only 1 of their losses was by 7+ points. Creighton has also been playing well in their home games lately and their 3 most recent wins there were all by 10+ points. Creighton has been playing good defense lately too and they have only given up 70+ points in 1 of their previous 6 games. I think that Creighton can shut down Villanova here with their defense and Villanova is even coming off of a game where they only put up 36 points. I think Villanova is going to struggle with their shooting again in this game and they haven't been all that great when they aren't at home either. They have 3 losses this year and 2 of them came on the road while the other was at a neutral venue. This building is going to be packed with Creighton fans since this is the start of their conference play and I think that it is going to make it a tough time for Villanova to play here and score points on that defense when their shooting has been bad lately. They have shot under 35% in their 2 most recent games now and they were even shooting less than 25% in their most recent game. I think Creighton will put up a good fight in this game and I think they have a chance to even win this game. I like Creighton to cover the spread here.

T.M. Prediction: 66-62 Creighton.