Owls vs Bulldogs CBB Basketball Spread/Handicapping
This Temple team has no fear. They upset Syracuse at the Carrier Dome and put a scare into Kansas at Lawrence so you know they can hang with pretty much any team in the country.
Temple Owls (13-5) vs #9 Butler Bulldogs (16-3)
Saturday January 26
Hinkle Field House – Muncie, IN
6:00PM
Moneyline: No ML currently listed at Bovada
Spread: Butler -5.5
O/U: 130.5
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Temple
The problem is they can lose to anyone too, as evidenced by losses to Canisius and St. Bonaventure at home. They will be certainly psyched to square off with newbie Butler, a team perhaps even tougher than they are.
The Owls have one of the more underrated guards in America in Khalif Wyatt. He was money against Syracuse in the upset and averages almost 18ppg. They really lean on him and since he is more scorer than shooter sometimes the final numbers aren’t always pretty.
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After Wyatt the scoring can be up and down and the Owls don’t have anyone who can really create their own shot and make it. Sometimes the offense is very ugly.
Temple is always a pretty good value play when they are the underdog because they just have a knack of getting team’s out of their comfort zone. The challenge is that Butler plays the same way.
I like the value on Temple, without Rotnei Clarke I don’t think the Bulldogs are going to be cruising to many wins against quality teams. [ad-6571516]
Butler
The Bulldogs couldn’t sustain their momentum from beating Gonzaga last Saturday losing to La Salle by a point mid-week. I guess it shouldn’t be a huge surprise as they weren’t even favoured in the contest.
They will look to defend their home court in what should be another amazing atmosphere with Temple visiting. Probably going to be even more physical than their game against the Zags which was a bruiser.
Not only did Butler win but they did so without the services of leading scorer guard Rotnei Clarke. Clarke is questionable Saturday (an upgrade) but they have proven to be effective without him.
They get a little more flow instead of him bombing away from the outside so much. They are still a perimeter oriented team but they work the ball around more and let powerful guard Roosevelt Jones barrel his way to the hoop.
I think Butler will be pretty ornery after losing to La Salle whether you called it an upset or not. Temple is one of the teams they want to measure themselves against, combine that and the loss and the Bulldogs should be ready to bite.
Even though Clarke might be back I think it will be a nailbiter.
Spread Pick: Temple +5.5
O/U Pick: Under
Score Prediction: Butler 61 – Temple 57
