(USA TODAY Sports)`Three of four favorites moved on to the Elite Eight on Friday night with North Carolina being upset by Auburn’s outside shooting. Today, Gonzaga will meet Texas Tech while Virginia squares off against Purdue in the first two games of the Elite Eight. Tiger and Rory will square off in the round of 16 in the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play and the MLB rolls on with a full day of games. Here’s a sports betting recap from Friday and a look ahead to Saturday.
Sweet 16: Three-point Barrage Sends UNC Home
Bruce Pearl called it. He informed bettors to take the over in last night’s matchup between No. 1 seed North Carolina and fifth-seeded Auburn. The game started at a sprint’s pace and never let up — smashing the O/U of 165 in an Auburn 97-80 victory.
The Tigers shot 36/66 from the field and gained a massive edge going 17/37 for 46% beyond the arc. With a shooting performance of this magnitude, Auburn easily covered the 5.5-point spread. as the game closed with chants of “SEC!” Auburn now moves on to face conference foe Kentucky in an Elite Eight matchup on Sunday.
A 7.5-point favorite, Duke barely avoided an upset loss — again — when defeating Virginia Tech 75-73. Making a habit of leaving crowds at the edge of their seats until the very end, Duke needed another last-second cling to desperation to hold a two-point lead as time expired. Virginia Tech dialed up the right play but Ahmed Hill could capture enough of his balance to put in the layup off an inbound pass.
The Duke freshmen were sensational again with Zion Williamson scoring 23 points, RJ Barrett 18, and Tre Jones adding 22 points with eight assists. A Cam Reddish late scratch due to a knee injury forced the freshmen to pull the extra weight. Up next for Duke will be a matchup of the two top seeds in the region as Duke will meet Michigan State for a Final Four berth. Duke is a 1.5-point favorite at the time of this writing.
Speaking of Michigan State, the Spartans were victorious on Friday night — defeating LSU 80-63 and covering a six-point spread in the process. Two freshmen — Aaron Henry and Gabe Brown — led the way for the Spartans as they scored a combined 35 points. Given a lot of room, Brown and Henry made LSU pay from beyond the arc as they shot a combined 6/10 from distance. The Spartans look to keep it rolling on Sunday against Duke in their first NCAA meeting since 2015. Coach K’s Duke squads have dominated Izzo’s Spartans in the past with the former owning a 11-1 straight up advantage.
The Kentucky Wildcats escaped the Sweet 16 with a late three from Tyler Herro to narrowly defeat Houston 62-58. Despite ceding a double-digit lead in the second half, the Wildcats were able to hang on and cover the two-point spread. And the game stayed way under the number, 135.
The Cougars were able to come back from a large deficit with a 17-6 run in the second half sparked by three three-pointers from Armoni Brooks. Brooks then scored another three of his 20 points from the right side to go up 54-51 with just over three minutes left to play. Houston could not quite hold on though with PJ Washington dominating the last couple minutes of the game. Kentucky will have their hands full on Sunday hoping to stymie the explosive outside shooting of the Auburn Tigers.
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Defense Versus Offense In Elite Eight
The Elite Eight begins tonight in a matchup of an unstoppable force and an immovable object. Per KenPom, Gonzaga ranks first in offensive efficiency while Texas Tech ranks first in defensive efficiency. The Bulldogs are favored by 4.5 (o/u 137) as the two teams clash with a spot in the Final Four on the line.
Texas Tech is fresh off holding Michigan to 44 points in their Sweet 16 matchup — the lowest point total scored by a No. 2 seed in tournament history. The Bulldogs are no defensive slouch — they forced 14 turnovers including six blocked shots in their Sweet 16 matchup versus Florida State.
Texas Tech makes it consecutive Elite Eight appearances after losing to Villanova in their first Elite Eight last season. The Red Raiders hope to make the school’s first Final Four appearance but will need an upset victory to get there.
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Virginia Meets Purdue
Virginia squares off with Purdue tonight as a 4-point favorite (o/u 126) with both teams hoping to make long-awaited Final Four appearances. The Cavaliers last made the Final Four in 1984 as a No. 7 seed while Purdue has not been to the semi-finals since 1980. Tonight’s game will be Purdue’s first Elite Eight appearance since 2000.
Virginia comes into Saturday night after dashing the hopes of the bracket’s last remaining lower seed — beating Oregon 53-49. Purdue was able to get past No. 2 seed Tennessee 99-94 in overtime. The Boilermakers were powered by seven 3-pointers from senior guard Ryan Cline.
Virginia is known for stifling defense and hopes to keep the Boilermakers’ outside shooting at bay. On Thursday, the Cavaliers held Oregon without a field goal for the final 5:43 of their victory. Saturday’s victor will play the winner of Auburn-Kentucky in the Final Four.
Diamond Notes
Run scoring leveled off in the MLB on Friday night with the under bettors going 4-3-1 against run lines. Offense was stagnant in the first wave of games and did not pick up until the Cardinals met the Brewers in Milwaukee. Paul Goldschmidt swatted three home runs on Friday night as the Cardinals beat the Brewers 9-5 — cashing tickets for ML (-108) and over (8.5) bettors.
The Red Sox required the heroics of pinch-hitter Mitch Moreland to secure their first victory of 2019. Moreland pinch-hit in the top of the ninth inning with the Sox down 4-6. Moreland capped off a rally from 6-1 down to rescue ML bettors who punched tickets at around -140.
In the waning hours on Friday night, baseball fans witnessed their second extra-innings affair with the Diamondbacks and Dodgers needing 13 innings to decide a victor. The Dodgers struck early and took a three-run lead into the 7th inning when the Diamondback scored three runs to tie up the contest. After nine innings, Dodgers ML bettors had to sweat out -170 tickets until the 13th inning when a pinch-hitting Carson Kelly sent Dodgers’ fans home disappointed.
The Diamondbacks held the lead in the bottom of the 13 with Greg Holland landing his first save in Arizona. Winning bettors cashed about +150 tickets after the late-night affair.
Today, the Yankees are humongous favorites (-430) in James Paxton’s first start in pinstripes. FanDuel Sportsbook projects a pitcher’s duel in Washington with the Mets’ Noah Syndergaard taking the bump against Stephen Strasburg with an O/U at 7.5.
In the afternoon, Bryce Harper and the Phillies are favored (-142) in their second game of the season against division-rival Atlanta. The O/U of 9 is tied with the Cubs-Rangers game for the highest number on the day. Yu Darvish returns to Arlington today as a Cub while the Rangers will trot out a past-his-prime Edinson Volquez in what could be another high-scoring affair.
Tiger and Rory Square Off
Did you know that Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy have never played a match play contest? That changes on Saturday when the two will meet for the first time as tournament play begins in the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play.
Rory comes into Saturday scorching hot — finishing pool play with three victories and only losing three holes in total. McIlroy defeated Matthew Fitzpatrick on Friday and is rightly slotted in as the favorite to win the entire tournament at +450 on FanDuel Sportsbook. Woods — +1300 — squared up his matchup with Patrick Cantlay on the 11th hole and won the three following holes to punch his first ticket to the round of 16 since 2008.
Justin Rose (+850) and Francesco Molinari (+950) are the next best odds to win. Meanwhile, Lucas Bjerregaard plays the role of Cinderella at +3700 after his stunning 2-0-1 performance in pool play including a victory over Justin Thomas.
UFC Philadelphia
Mixed martial arts takes over Philadelphia for the first time since 2011 with a lightweight bout headlining Fight Night. At the time of this writing, Edson Barboza enters Saturday night as a -130 favorite on FanDuel Sportsbook to defeat Justin Gaethje (+112).
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With the lightweight title picture in limbo, the bout could bring light to a very foggy situation. Per ESPN, Barboza is the only fighter in UFC history with knockouts by a head kick, body kick, and leg kick. Gaethje is no slouch with his feet — already landing 125 leg kicks in his first four UFC fights.
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