Thursday's Best NCAAB Bets
Austin Peay Governors at No. 19 Memphis Tigers
The Memphis Tigers need a stroke of good luck in a bad way.
Over the last week or so they lost leading-scorer Wesley Witherspoon to a knee injury that will keep him on the shelf until at least midway through next month. If that wasn’t enough, D.J. Stephens went down with a groin injury, while junior forward Angel Garcia bailed to play pro ball in Spain.
"This is a tough break for Wesley, because at the time of the injury, he was carrying us in those first five games," coach Josh Pastner told reporters.
"It was probably a good thing that we had a little bit of a break so we're able to kind of get situated in some of those areas. We'll be ready. We know we're going to have a good challenge in front of us on Thursday but I have confidence in our guys."
Coming off an 81-68 loss to Kansas as an 11-point underdog on Dec. 7, you have to believe Pastner is going to have his club ready to fight back against their misfortune here.
Pick: Tigers
Oral Roberts Golden Eagles at No. 12 Missouri Tigers
Missou heads into this one having won three straight and with just a loss to Georgetown as the only blemish on its resume. Against the spread is a totally different story.
The Tigers have covered only once in six games that they have seen a pointspread and are now up against a Golden Eagles club that beat them last year.
However, Missou should come into Thursday’s game well rested after rotating 12 different players into the action during Saturday’s 70-55 win over Presbyterian with no Tiger playing more than 23 minutes.
"It's nice to have a chance to play a game like this because some of our guys have played a lot of minutes," guard Marcus Denmon told reporters. "They give guys that normally aren't able to play as much a chance to do things and show coach that they're able to help us."
Meanwhile, Oral Roberts’ Michael Craion, who played hero by hitting a last-second layup to down Missou last season, is still working himself back into the rotation following a foot injury.
Missou gets its revenge Thursday.
Pick: Tigers
NCAA Odds: Memphis Tigers meet Austin Peay
By: Willie Bee
It's been a rather eventful week or so for Josh Pastner and the Memphis Tigers. The team lost leading scorer Wesley Witherspoon to a knee injury that will sideline him through at least half of January. Witherspoon, a junior out of Atlanta, was the team's leading scorer through the first eight games with a 13.0 average.
Memphis' bench then took a double hit with a groin injury to D.J. Stephens and the decision by junior forward Angel Garcia (6.1 PPG) to leave the team for a professional league in Spain.
His roster down to just nine scholarship players for Thursday's matchup with Austin Peay, Pastner has decided to remove freshman Hippolyte Tsafack from the redshirt category and suit the 6-foot-8 forward up for the contest against the Governors.
The battle between the two Tennessee schools tips at 5 p.m. (PT) from Memphis' FedEx Forum. Bookmaker.com opened the Tigers as 14½-point favorites; I'm going to hold off to see if 15 might be available but definitely like the 'dog in this intrastate scrap.
Memphis hasn't played since Dec. 7 when the Tigers suffered their first and only loss of the season, an 81-68 defeat at the hands of Kansas in the Jimmy V Classic. Memphis, an 11-point underdog, trailed by just two at the half thanks to Jayhawks turnovers. But the Tigers came out of the locker room cold to start the final 20 minutes, hitting just seven of their first 23 shots. Memphis shot just 37 percent on the game, well below their season average (45.6 percent) while Kansas connected on 57.1 percent of their field goals.
The loss at the window left the 7-1 Tigers just 2-5 against the spread. The final just stayed 'under' the 149½-point mark, the fourth time in six Memphis games for low-side bettors to cash.
Witherspoon's absence means Memphis will be relying even more on penetrating guard play for its scoring. Will Barton and Joe Jackson are the only other players averaging at least 10 points per game, and the guard duo are a combined 16-for-58 (27.5 percent) from beyond the arc. Tsafack could help inside eventually, but expecting the freshman to step right in and pick things up is unrealistic.
Dave Loos and the Governors are also dealing with a tough injury as they enter this contest 6-5 straight up, 5-3 against the spread. Junior Anthony Campbell, the team's second leading scorer (13.9 PPG) is done for the season due to a knee injury he suffered in practice about a week ago.
Austin Peay had no problem doing without Campbell in their last game, a 112-52 laugher against overmatched Fontbonne this past weekend in an unlined affair. The Govs pretty much had their way, connecting on over 57 percent of their field goals and owning the glass with a 44-24 rebound margin.
Campbell's absence will mean TyShwan Edmondson has to contribute even more to the offense, especially from the outside where he and Campbell were the only threats. The 6-foot-4 guard is averaging over 19 points per game, and connecting on over 35 percent of this three-pointers (20-for-57). He and Campbell were also far and away the team's top free-throw shooters, with Edmondson stroking the nets at an 82.1 percent clip (32-for-39).
It's been a little more than three years since the two schools met. With John Calipari at the Memphis reins in Nov. 2007, the Tigers skated to a 104-82 victory on this same floor. That was back in the day Memphis had a freshman point guard named Derrick Rose who scored 19 and dished 12 assists in the contest.
The Tigers could post another 22-point win this time around, though I certainly don't see it. Aside from their long layoff, Pastner will no doubt be trying to reconfigure his rotations with Witherspoon and Stephens out and Garcia gone.
Loos will also be working new players into his mix and Peay has two crucial Ohio Valley battles on deck with a home game versus Eastern Kentucky on Saturday followed by Morehead State coming to Clarksville next Tuesday.
Memphis will take four days off before hosting Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (Dec. 20) which precede a huge contest at home versus Georgetown (Dec. 23).
College Basketball Knowledge
NC State is 5-3, 2-1 as favorite, beating teams at Youngstown's level by 13-10-19 points; they've got Arizona coming in Sunday, could look past Penguin squad that is 4-3, but 0-3 on road, losing by 7 at Akron, 30 at Robert Morris, 9 at Milwaukee. Horizon double digit road dogs are 7-4 against the spread this season. ACC double digit home faves are 9-9.
Troy won three of last four games vs Florida Atlantic, winning last two here by 86-80/94-87 scores, but Trojans are 0-7 vs D-I teams, with none of losses by less than nine points, but they did cover three of their last four games. FAU won three of last four games, splitting pair up north earlier thisweek- they're 5-2 against the spread as an underdog.
Ark-Little Rock is 1-3 on road, losing by 13 at St Bonaventure, 26 at Oral Roberts, 34 at Missouri State (won by 10 at SMU); Trojans are 3-4 as underdog this year. Rice hasn't played in 12 days; they lost four of last five games vs D-I teams. C-USA single digit home favorites are just 2-9-1 vs spread. Sun Belt single digit road underdogs are 7-14.
Austin Peay is 5-5 vs D-I teams, losing by 22 at Purdue, best team they played so far- also lost to Oakland by 8. Governors are 2-3 as underdog this year. Memphis is down to nine scholarship players after player left to go play pro ball in Spain and another got hurt; they haven't played in nine days. Tigers are 1-4 against the spread as a favorite.
Tulsa lost its last three games, and were favored in two of them; they're 4-0 if they allow 68 or less points, 0-5 if they allow more. Hurricane is 2-3 as favorite this year. Weber State won last three games, by 1-4-6 points, after losing to Arizona State by a point up in Alaska. Big Sky road dogs of 14 or less points are 10-6 against the spread.
Arizona got crushed at BYU in last game, has trip to NC State on deck; they're 6-1 vs spread as favorite, beating two Big Sky teams already, by 48 over Idaho State, 23 over No Colorado. Big Sky road underdogs of 14+ points are 3-7 vs spread. Pac-10 home favorites of 15+ points are 13-5 vs spread. Lumberjacks are 3-1 vs spread as an underdog.