College Basketball Knowledge
Rhode Island won last two games with Saint Louis by 9-5 points; they've lost three of last four visits to Olean, losing by 7-6-28 points, are 1-3 in true road games, with only win in OT at Brown. Rams are 2-4 vs teams in top 100, beating Houston/Richmond. Bonnies are 11-3 vs schedule #281; they're 0-2 vs top 100 teams, losing to Syracuse/Hofstra. A-14 home teams are 3-7 vs spread in games with spread of 6 or less points.
Clemson won its last three games, getting to line 44 times in upset win vs Louisville Sunday; Tigers lost seven of last eight games with Duke, losing last two by 1-22 points. Duke split last four visits here, winning by 13-7 points. Blue Devils won by 17-16 in only true road games, at BC, Wake Forest- they've won last five games, all by 16+ points. ACC home dogs are 6-5 against the spread.
Cincinnati won its last four games with Houston, with three wins by 15+ points; Cougars lost by 11-13 points in last two visits here. Bearcats are 2-3 in last five games; they struggled to win 54-51 at lowly USF Sunday. Houston is 13-2 vs schedule #349; they're 1-1 vs top 100 teams, beating LSU in OT, losing at URI by 10. Cougars allowed 54 ppg in winning first three AAC games. AAC home favorites are 6-10 vs spread.
Northern Iowa won its last three games with Indiana State; underdogs are 3-1 vs spread in last four series games. Panthers won last two visits to Terre Haute by 13-10 points. UNI is 5-6 in its last 11 games after its 5-1 start; Panthers are 2-5 in true road games, winning at North Dakota and George Mason. Indiana State scored 76.3 ppg in winning last three games all by 10+ points. MVC home underdogs are 2-4 vs spread.
Home side won five of last six Tennessee-Georgia games; Vols lost their last three visits here, by 4-10-3 points. Tennessee allowed 80+ points in last five losses, 69 or less in last four wins. Georgia lost two of last three games; they're 8-2 at home, losing to Chattanooga/K-State. Dawgs are 3-4 vs top 100 teams- they lost two of last three games overall. SEC single digit home favorites are 6-2 vs spread.
Villanova won its last six games with Marquette, crushing Eagles 84-47 in Big East tourney LY; Marquette lost its last three visits here by 4-17-18 points. Wildcats won last six games, winning first two Big East home tilts by 31-9 points. Eagles are 12-4 vs schedule #288, winning last two games by total of 7 points; they've won at Wisconsin/Providence, lost by 10 at Georgetown. Big East home favorites are 7-8 vs spread.
Ole Miss won seven of last ten games with LSU, losing last two by 4-10 points; Rebels are 3-4 in last seven visits here. Ole Miss won nine of last ten games, losing only at Kentucky; they won last two games by total of nine points, first games in their new arena. LSU is 0-5 this year in games decided by 6 or less points or in OT; they split last four games, are 8-1 at home, losing to Wake Forest. SEC single digit home favorites are 6-2.
South Carolina is 15-0, one of two unbeaten teams in country; they lost last three visits to Alabama by 10-10-8 points- home side won last six in this series. Gamecocks won by 6 at Clemson, 12 at Auburn in their only true road games. Alabama is 3-5 vs top 100 teams, losing last two games by 8-16 points, scoring 63.5 ppg. Tide turns ball over 21% of time, #305 in country. SEC home underdogs are 4-4 vs spread.
Notre Dame won its last three games with Georgia Tech by 3-7-3 points; Tech lost last two visits here, by 3-7ot points. Irish lost two of last three games, are 3-4 vs top 100 teams, with best win over #12 Iowa- they've got #5 eFG%, making 40.3% on arc. Tech lost last three true road games by 14-8-5 points; they upset Virginia in last game. ACC home favorites are 6-5 against the spread.
Oklahoma won last five games with Oklahoma State, winning last two in Stillwater 77-74/64-56. Sooners split two true road games, winning by 3 at Hawai'i, losing in 3OTs at Kansas. Cowboys lost last two games by 17 points each; they're 0-4 vs top 100 teams, with three losses by 10+ pts. Oklahoma is making 46.4% behind arc, best in country. Big X home dogs are 4-2 against the spread.
San Diego State is 21-4 in last 25 games with Colorado State, but is 1-3 in last four visits to Ft Collins, as home side won eight of last nine in series. Aztecs shot 14-39 on arc last two games, an improvement- they won last three games by 12-3-15 points after shaky 7-6 start. Rams are 2-1 so far in conference, with three games decided by total of six points- both wins were by a point. Mountain West home underdogs are 3-3 vs spread.
Oregon State won at Rice/UCSB in mid-November; this is their first true road game since then. Beavers won five of last six games, but all were in Oregon. Colorado lost three of last four games, all to top 50 teams; they're 1-4 vs top 50 teams, with win over BYU. Buffs won three of last four games with OSU, winning by 6-6-7 points; Beavers lost two of three visits to Boulder. Pac-12 home favorites are 6-4 vs spread.
UCLA won 10 of last 11 games with USC, winning last six, all by 10 or more points; Trojans lost four of last five visits here, with all four losses by 10+. Bruins split their last six games, winning by 3-7 points over the Arizona schools in their last two home games. USC won nine of last ten games, beating Arizona in four OTs in last game Saturday. Pac-12 home favorites are 6-4 against the spread.
Armadillosports.com
NCAAB: Streaks, Tips, Notes
Sportspic.com
Duke at Clemson
The Duke Blue Devils are heating up as conference play begins in the ACC. However, they'll hit the road for a challenging trip to Clemson to face the Tigers on Wednesday.
The Blue Devils are coming off an 82-58 win over the Virginia Tech Hokies and are now 14-2 SU and 3-0 in ACC play. Duke's Marshall Plumlee had 21 points and 10 rebounds in the home victory, while Brandon Ingram added 16 points, nine rebounds and six blocks. Duke jumped to a 50-23 lead by halftime. The Blue Devils are rounding into form quickly, but Wednesday will be a difficult test.
The Clemson Tigers moved to 10-6 SU and 3-1 in ACC play with a 66-62 win at home over the Louisville Cardinals, making it their third consecutive win. Jaron Blossomgame led the way with 17 points and nine rebounds for the Tigers, who shot just 32.6% from the field and was outrebounded 53-31. They played some tough defense with 17 forced turnovers.
Duke has dominated this ACC rivalry, winning seven of the last eight meetings. The Tigers' last win in this series came in January 2014, when they beat the Blue Devils 72-59 at home.
Wednesday's Tip Sheet
By Brian Edwards
VegasInsider.com
Houston at Cincinnati
As of early this morning, most betting shops had Cincinnati (12-5 straight up, 5-8 against the spread) installed as a nine-point favorite.
Houston (13-2 SU, 6-4 ATS) is out to a 3-0 start in AAC play, leaving it just one-half game behind conference-leading Southern Methodist. The Cougars have won five in a row, including last Tuesday’s 63-45 win over Tulane as 10.5-point home favorites. Robert Gray Jr. led the way with a team-high 15 points, while Devonta Pollard and Danrad Knowles chipped in with 13 points apiece. LeRon Barnes pulled down a team-best 14 rebounds.
Houston has been an underdog twice, winning 77-50 at Temple as a six-point ‘dog and losing 67-57 at Rhode Island as a seven-point puppy.
Gray leads Houston in scoring (18.6 points per game) and steals (1.3 SPG). Pollard is averaging 14.1 points and 6.1 rebounds per game, while Oregon transfer Damyean Dotson is averaging 12.1 points and 7.2 rebounds per contest. Another transfer, Ronnie Johnson from Purdue, is scoring in double figures (11.9) thanks to 40.0 percent shooting from 3-point range.
Houston played cupcakes galore in non-conference action, beating 10 teams with RPI’s worse than No. 215. Kelvin Sampson’s squad has played just five teams inside the RPI Top 150, going 3-2 with wins over LSU at home and a neutral-site victory over Wyoming.
Cincinnati has won 10 in a row over Houston going back to 1998, but the Cougars are 3-1 ATS in the last four head-to-head meetings. The ‘under’ is also 3-1 in the last four encounters.
Cincinnati has lost three of its last five games both SU and ATS, including last week’s 59-57 loss at SMU as a six-point underdog last week. The Bearcats blew a seven-point lead in the last four minutes by allowing SMU’s Nic Moore to bury a pair of 3-pointers at crunch time. Farad Cobb drilled 6-of-11 from downtown and had a team-high 18 points and four steals in the losing effort. Gary Clark finished with 13 points, 11 rebounds and five steals.
Cincinnati has already lost three times in 10 home games. The Bearcats are 2-4 ATS in their six lined home games. The three defeats came against Iowa State, Temple and Butler by 11 combined points.
Mick Cronin’s team is off a 54-51 win at South Florida as a 15.5-point road favorite. Troy Caupain hit four treys and finished with 14 points, six rebounds, three steals and two assists. Octavius Ellis and Shaquille Thomas scored 10 points apiece, while Clark collected a team-best 11 rebounds.
Cincinnati owns a 2-3 spread record in five games as a single-digit ‘chalk’ this year.
Cobb is averaging a team-best 12.1 points per game while draining triples at a 47.5 percent clip. Caupain is scoring 11.2 PPG and has an outstanding 78/26 assists-to-turnovers ratio. Clark is averaging 9.5 points and 8.6 rebounds per game while making 58.5 percent of his shots from the field.
Dating back to last season, Houston owns a 12-4 spread record in its last 16 games.
The ‘over’ is 6-3-1 overall for UH, but the ‘under’ is 2-1 in three true road assignments.
The ‘under’ is on a 66-27 roll for the Bearcats in their 93 games. The ‘under’ has cashed in their last three games and six of their last eight.
Tip-off is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. Eastern on ESPNU.
Ole Miss at LSU
Going into tonight’s showdown in Baton Rouge, Ole Miss and LSU are in a fifth-place tie in the SEC standings with identical 2-1 records. As of early this morning, most spots had the Tigers listed as eight-point favorites.
LSU (9-6 SU, 5-7 ATS) has won eight of its nine home games at Pete Maravich Assembly Center, compiling a 4-2 spread record. The Tigers picked up their biggest win of the season last week when they knocked off Kentucky by an 85-67 count as three-point home underdogs.
LSU fell victim to a letdown scenario Saturday when it lost a 68-62 decision at Florida as a three-point road underdog. Ben Simmons stuffed the stat sheet with 28 points, 17 rebounds and four assists, but he committed all eight of his turnovers in the second half. Keith Hornsby added 10 points, but he was off the mark on all five of his 3-point attempts. For the first time since joining the team the last seven games, Arizona transfer Craig Victor (12.6 PPG, 6.6 RPG) failed to score in double figures with only six points on 2-of-9 shooting from the floor. The Tigers made only 3-of-20 launches from long distance.
Simmons is producing monster numbers in what almost certainly will be his only season at LSU. The freshman sensation is averaging team-highs in scoring (20.6 PPG), rebounding (13.1 RPG), assists (5.1 APG), field-goal percentage (57.7%), steals (1.9 SPG) and blocked shots (1.3 BPG).
Hornsby was injured and missed LSU’s first seven games, but he’s been making up for it since returning. The senior shooting guard is averaging 15.5 PPG while making 50.0 percent of his shots from the field, 41.0 percent of his attempts from 3-point range and 84.8 percent of his free throws. Hornsby also has twice as many assists (16) as turnovers (eight).
Ole Miss (12-3 SU, 7-7 ATS) lost both head-to-head meetings against LSU last season, but the Rebels have won seven of the last 10 encounters, going 6-4 versus the number.
Andy Kennedy’s team has won nine of its last 10 games with the only loss coming at Kentucky (83-61). The Rebels are 6-4 ATS in those last 10 outings. They are 4-1 SU and 3-2 ATS in their five road contests this year.
Ole Miss is off back-to-back home wins over Alabama (74-66) and Georgia (72-71). Stefan Moody’s go-ahead layup with six seconds remaining lifted the Rebels to victory. UGA led by nine at intermission and by four with less than a minute to play. Moody scored a game-high 28 points to go with seven assists, four rebounds and three steals. Rasheed Brooks and Sebastian Saiz both finished with 14 points 10 rebounds apiece.
Moody leads the SEC and is sixth in the nation in scoring with his 23.9 PPG average. The senior guard, who is playing his second season for Ole Miss after transferring from Florida Atlantic, is dishing out a team-best 4.1 APG. Saiz is averaging 12.5 points and 10.3 rebounds per game. The junior center has a team-high 18 blocked shots.
Ole Miss owns a 1-1 record both SU and ATS in a pair of games as an underdog. The Rebels won outright at Memphis as three-point ‘dogs. They have an RPI of 44, going 3-2 against the Top 100 with wins vs. Georgia State vs. Alabama and vs. UGA. Their only other loss came versus Seton Hall on a neutral floor.
LSU is No. 121 in the RPI Rankings. Johnny Jones’s squad is 2-4 against RPI Top-100 competition, winning at Vanderbilt in addition to the win over UK. The Tigers have lost at Florida, vs. Wake Forest, vs. N.C. State on a neutral court and at Charleston. They also have a neutral-court loss to Marquette.
The ‘under’ is 7-5 overall for LSU, 5-1 in its home games. The Tigers have seen the ‘under’ cash in back-to-back contests and four of their last five.
The ‘under’ has cashed at an 8-1 clip in the Rebels’ last nine road games dating back to last year. As for this season, Ole Miss has watched the ‘under’ go 8-6 overall, but the ‘over’ is on a 5-1 run in their last six games.
The ‘under’ is on an 11-3 run in the last 14 head-to-head meetings between these bitter SEC rivals.
ESPN2 will have the telecast at 9:00 p.m. Eastern.
Trojans visit Bruins
By Sportsbook.ag
USC TROJANS (14-3) at UCLA BRUINS (11-6)
Sportsbook.ag Line: UCLA -3
Local rivals USC and UCLA meet at Pauley Pavilion for a Pac-12 showdown with both teams riding high after beating Top 10 Arizona last week.
USC (12-5 ATS) is off to a fantastic start under coach Andy Enfield, having won nine of their last 10 contests (7-3 ATS) and shooting for its first NCAA berth since the 2010-11 season under former coach Kevin O’Neill. The Trojans are fresh off a game that would make Oklahoma and Kansas blush, a 103-101 (USC +3) four-overtime thriller over Arizona at the Galen Center last Saturday. It was the third quadruple-overtime game in USC history and the last since 1985 – an 80-78 defeat of UCLA.
Speaking of the Bruins, they also downed Arizona at home, 87-84 (UCLA +3) on a last-second three by G Bryce Alford (17.4 PPG) on a night where the Bruins honored Russell Westbrook. UCLA’s most recent victory was last Saturday over Arizona State (87-81, UCLA -5.5). The Trojans also defeated Arizona State last week, 75-65 (USC -6). UCLA’s two home wins have improved coach Steve Alford’s Bruins to 8-1 (5-4 ATS) at Pauley Pavilion and 2-2 in Pac-12 play.
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USC is 3-1 in conference play and 2-1 SU (2-1 ATS) on the road overall this season. UCLA has owned this series recently, going 9-1 SU (7-3 ATS) since 2012. UCLA has been the favorite in each of the last 10 games and has been a double-digit favorite in each of the past five meetings at Pauley Pavilion. The Bruins have won seven straight in this matchup (6-1 ATS), including three wins just last season (including the Pac-12 tournament). The total has gone OVER in each of the last five contests between USC and UCLA.
USC is playing fast and exciting basketball. It boasts six double-figure scorers and averages 84.3 PPG (14th NCAA). Not only is it scoring, but USC is locking down on the defensive end, too. Led by three players averaging more than one block per game, the Trojans swat 6.7 shots per game (3rd NCAA). USC will challenge shots not just at the rim, but on the perimeter (38.8 % FGA, 23rd NCAA; 31.8% 3PT, 65th NCAA). Enfield’s squad relies on the long ball for offense (40.9% 3PT, 12th NCAA) as four Trojans average between 1.7 and 2.1 threes per game, all of them shooting better than 39.5% 3PT.
G Julian Jacobs (12.9 PPG, 5.3 RPG, 5.8 APG) is not one of the aforementioned four marksmen, but he is arguably USC’s most important player. Finally at full strength due to a nagging ankle injury, Jacobs stuffed the stat sheet in a team-high 53 minutes in the four-OT win over Arizona (18 points, 6 rebounds, 9 assists, 7 steals). G Elijah Stewart (10.8 PPG, 44% 3PT) has seen his playing time fluctuate, but was really feeling it with a team-high 27 points in the win on Saturday. Second only to Jacobs’ 53 minutes against the Wildcats was his backcourt partner, G Jordan McLaughlin (12.9 PPG, 5.2 APG, 45% 3PT).
USC’s frontcourt is anchored by two 6-foot-10 forwards who do completely different things: F Bennie Boatwright (12.3 PPG, 39.5% 3PT) is a sweet-shooting freshman who leads the team with 2.1 3PM, while F Nikola Jovanovic (12.5 PPG, 7.7 RPG) is their most potent inside force. He averaged 17.6 PPG in the three meetings against the Bruins last season. Jovanovic has 8 blocks over his past two games. USC could run into problems on the glass against the Bruins, as the Trojans are extremely vulnerable on the offensive glass (11.8 Off Reb Allowed, 335th NCAA).
UCLA comes into this game, as USC does, on the heels of sweeping the Arizona schools at home, capped by the thrilling defeat of Arizona on Thursday with Alford’s step-back three pointer just before time expired. Alford, who went 9-18 FG (5-11 3PT) for a team-high 25 points in that win, played very efficient basketball this past week, going 16-29 FG overall with only two turnovers. The elder Alford’s club will look to punish USC on the glass (42.1 RPG, 14th NCAA) and especially on the offensive boards, where USC struggles to box out (12.1 Off Reb/Game, 18th NCAA).
The Bruins will lean on the inside tandem of F Tony Parker (13.0 PPG, 9.9 RPG) and F Thomas Welsh (12.8 PPG, 8.8 RPG) to overpower the leaner Trojans in the paint. Welsh has grabbed 10-plus rebounds in four of his past five games. Winning the battle on the boards will mitigate a subpar defense (76.8 PPG, 268th NCAA) that could have real trouble against USC’s multitude of weapons on the perimeter, as teams hoist a ton of threes against UCLA (24.4 3PA/G, 333rd NCAA), hitting eight threes per game on average.
Along with Alford, the Bruins do boast a solid perimeter attack of their own, supported by G Isaac Hamilton (16.5 PPG, 49% FG) and G Aaron Holiday (10.6 PPG, 3.8 APG). Hamilton and Holiday were keys in the win over Arizona State on Saturday. Hamilton led the team with 26 points while Holiday’s three with one minute left put the Bruins ahead of the Sun Devils for good. Hamilton scored a career-high 36 points the last time UCLA met USC, a 96-70 win for the Bruins in last season’s Pac-12 Tournament.