Namely, Dan Hurley is the most important College Basketball odds asset of all and knows how to lead a team into cutting down the nets at the end. Also, UConn is a team that nobody wants to face. The Connecticut Huskies are March Madness-bound and will attempt to win a third consecutive national championship. However, UConn is not the same powerhouse-caliber team as it was in the previous two seasons. The rest of the Big East Conference got better this year. Also, there was unavoidable roster turnover that head coach Dan Hurley and the Huskies have had to work around.
2025 NCAA Tournament First Round Friday Connecticut Huskies vs. Oklahoma Sooners
| Date and Time: | Friday, March 21, 2025, 9:25 p.m. ET |
|---|---|
| Location: | Lenovo Center, Raleigh, NC |
| TV Coverage: | TNT |
| Team | Spread | Total | ML | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oklahoma | +5½ -105 | 147½ -115 | +200 |  |
| Connecticut | -5½ -115 | 147½ -105 | -230 | |
| ||||
Connecticut Huskies Team Overview
Lately, UConn has covered four of its previous six games and has gone under the offshore betting total in five of its last six outings. Solo Ball is first among UConn scorers with 14.6 points per game.
Overall, the Connecticut Huskies are 22-9 straight up, 14-17 against the spread, and 15-15-1 over/under the total. Connecticut has national metrics of 81st for scoring offense, 37th for field goal percentage, 105th for 3-point field goal percentage, 9th for free throw percentage, and 119th for offensive rebounding. While defensively, UConn is 68th for scoring defense, 91st for field goal percentage permitted, 286th for 3-point field goal percentage allowed, and 2nd for defensive rebounding.
Jasen Green scored a career-high 19 points, and second-seeded Creighton withstood a comeback try by third-seeded UConn and earned a 71-62 victory Friday night in the semifinals of the Big East tournament. As a result, the Bluejays advanced to the championship game for the fifth time since joining the Big East.
Overall, Green made all seven of his shots in the first half, and the Bluejays led by 11 at halftime. He got his only second-half basket with 2:43 left when he sank a turnaround jumper at the left side of the paint over Alex Karaban, who was playing with four fouls.
Green, who entered averaging 4.3 points, eclipsed his previous career high of 14 against Georgetown set Feb. 23. Correlate, he scored one point in 21 minutes during Creighton’s double-overtime comeback win over 10th-seeded DePaul on Thursday.
The biggest night of Green’s career occurred when UConn keyed on Ryan Kalkbrenner and held the star center to 12 points on 5-of-13 shooting. In turn, Kalkbrenner had help from others besides Green. Jamiya Neal also scored 19. Including a dunk in the final seconds that infuriated the Huskies and resulted in double technical fouls. Steven Ashworth contributed 12 a night after hitting the tying 3 with 21 seconds left in regulation.
Oklahoma Sooners Team Overview
Late on, Oklahoma has covered seven of its previous eight games. OU has gone over the NCAA Tournament lines total in four of its last five outings. First among Oklahoma scorers is Jeremiah Fears, with 17.7 per game.
Overall, the Oklahoma Sooners are 20-13 straight up, 16-15 against the spread, and 17-13-1 over/under the total. Oklahoma has national metrics of 62nd for scoring offense, 56th for field goal percentage, 41st for 3-point field goal percentage, 8th for free throw percentage, and 324th for offensive rebounding. While defensively, Oklahoma is 267th for scoring defense, 233rd for field goal percentage permitted, 26th for 3-point field goal percentage allowed, and 168th for defensive rebounding.
Connecticut vs. Oklahoma SBG Free Picks
As mentioned earlier, UConn is not the same level of team as last season. Oklahoma has shown enough improvement to rate the call.
Connecticut vs. Oklahoma SBG Best Bet: Oklahoma Sooners.