A dominating defensive effort led the Kansas State Wildcats to a 69-59 victory over the Creighton Bluejays in the NCAA Tournament Round of 64 on Friday. Kansas State was a 2.5-point underdog at the opening tip-off and made some bettors a nice chunk of change with an outright victory as an underdog. The game never came close to getting over the total of 144, falling considerably short.
The victory means that Kansas State will now likely face the Virginia Cavaliers in the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament on Sunday. Virginia still has to beat UMBC to make this meeting a reality, but a No. 16 seed has never knocked off a No. 1 seed. The betting odds for that showdown will be released soon by BetDSI Sportsbook. Virginia is likely to be around a 10-point favorite in this one because of its record-setting defense.
Kansas State completely shut down Creighton’s high-powered offense to pick up the upset victory. The Wildcats held superstar guard, and former Wildcat, Marcus Foster without a point in the first half and allowed him to go just 2-11 from the floor. Kansas State held Creighton to a scant 26 points in the first half, the Bluejays lowest total all season long.
This victory was all the more impressive because Kansas State did not use its best player. Dean Wade had been a game time decision due to an ankle injury suffered in the Big 12 Conference Tournament and ended up not playing. In his absence, guards Barry Brown and Mike McGuirl came up big. The duo ended up netting over half of Kansas State’s points.
Kansas State was seen as a team incredibly unlikely to win it all with odds of +30000 to win the NCAA Tournament at BetDSI prior to the opening tip-off. The Wildcats’ probable opponent, Virginia, was the third-lowest favorite according to the oddsmakers with odds of +600.
