Wednesday's Best NCAAB Bets
Northwestern St. Demons at Memphis Tigers
It may not have been pretty, but the Memphis Tigers survived a scare from the Miami Hurricanes the last time they took the floor.
Memphis was down by a bucket with less than two minutes to play, but freshman guard Chris Crawford hit a big trey down the stretch and the Tigers pulled out a 72-68 win. It wasn’t enough to get Tigers bettors a payday though with the club set as a 6.5-point favorite.
"The reason we were able to win was because of our defense," Memphis coach Josh Pastner told reporters. "We held them to low percentages and we made our free throws. Big 3 by Chris Crawford. He had missed a bunch, but I told him, 'Hey, keep shooting.' The guy is one of our best shooters and he made a big shot to give us a 1-point lead."
Still, Pastner can’t be happy with his club shooting only 33.9 percent from the floor and a terrible 18.2 percent from downtown. Sometimes a tough win like this is just what a team needs early in the season, but look for the Tigers to start slow after playing two games in 48 hours.
Northwestern St. was a handful for LSU and had a second-half lead before eventually losing 87-78.
Pick: Demons
Alcorn St. Braves at Purdue Boilermakers
When senior forward Robbie Hummel went down with a season-ending knee injury earlier this month, the Boilermakers knew they’d need some guys to step up. Hummel was the club’s second-leading scorer and rebounder last season.
So far, seniors JaJuan Johnson and E'Twaun Moore seem up to the task. Moore booked 16 points and Johnson added 10 points, 12 boards and five blocks in Purdue’s 76-40 blowout of Howard on Sunday.
Without Hummel, the club has recommitted to defense and held Howard to just 24.6 percent shooting from the floor.
"I think us playing good team defense will help us win a lot of ball games," Moore told reporters. "We have a lot of players who played last year, so they kind of know what's going on the defensive end. We just have to keep putting it all together."
Wednesday’s game with Alcorn State marks the first ever meeting between the two clubs. The Demons were 2-29 last season and have lost their last nine games against ranked opponents.
This seems like a good opportunity for Purdue to get everything together.
Pick: Boilermakers
College Basketball Knowledge
St John's lost 76-71 at St Mary's late Monday, didn't get back to NYC until Tuesday night, now play Columbia team they beat 76-70 in the last series meeting, four years ago. Lions are 1-1, losing by 11 to LaSalle in the opener. Red Storm had only six assists on 22 hoops Monday; lot of individual play.
Home side won six of last seven Indiana State-Ball State games, as the Sycamores lost last three visits here, by 3-6-8 points. Only one of those seven games was decided by more than 8 points. Fourth game in 6 nites for Indiana State, which lost two of three at Loyola event. Ball State has four starters back from LY; they won their first game by 31.
Cornell has only one starter back from LY and he's hurt; Big Red split its first two games. Delaware lost its opener by 19 at Ohio; they've got all five starters back from LY's 7-24/3-15 team (is that a good thing?) Hens beat Penn by 3 LY, their only game vs Ivy League team last five years.
South Alabama won two of last three games vs Southern Miss; visitor won last two years, with USA winning 76-73 in OT in last visit here two years ago. USM opened season with good win at So Florida; they've got all five starters back from 20-14/8-8 team. Jaguars have four starters back from 17-15/8-10 club- they're deeper this year.
Marquette was down 41-33 at half to Bucknell at home Sunday, rallied to win by 11, but its a small red flag; Eagles have two starters back from 22-12/11-7 team- they've haven't played Green Bay in last eight years, so you know this is bigger game for Phoenix of Horizon League, which has new coach and lost three starters from LY's 22-13/11-7 team.
Drake won three of last four games vs Iowa State, upsetting Cyclones in last two visits to Ames by total of five points; Bulldogs have 3 starters back from LY's 14-19/7-11 team. State won its first two games, by 14-27 points; they've got three new starters and new coach after 15-17/4-12 team LY. Iowa State plays against its former coach in its next game.
Louisiana Tech won 99-94 at Houston LY; Tech lost three starters from LY's 24-11/9-7 team that was ravaged by injuries down stretch. This is a young team. Houston has new coach and three new starters; they'll play defense under Dickey and won't chuck/duck like they did with Penders as coach, but this year, Houston's talent level is a little down.
Middle Tennessee lost 65-64 at former Sun Belt rival UAB LY, first time two teams played in years; Blue Raiders have only one double digit scorer back this year, are rebuilding after 19-14/13-5 season. UAB lost three of its starters from disappointing 25-9/11-5 team that fell short of making to NCAAs. Blazers won their first game this year by 22.
Bradley had tough 66-63 win over Northern Illinois last night, now face an improved LMU team that hasn't played since Sunday- they've got four starters back from 18-16/7-7 team, but they lost opener to Morgan State at home. Braves have four starters (top three scorers) back from LY's 16-15/9-9 team that turned down bid to consolation tourney.
Utah State has four starters back from 27-8/14-2 that won WAC regular season title last three years, but they'll have new PG; home side won six of last seven series games with BYU- Aggies are 5-3 overall in last eight games vs Cougars. BYU has three starters back from 30-6/13-3 team, but their explosive backup PG transferred, which hurts their depth.
Home side won San Francisco-San Jose games last two years, with Dons losing 82-76 in last visit here. USF lost three starters from LY's 12-18/7-7 team; all six of its recruits are freshmen, so this is young USF squad. San Jose won its opener by 7; they've got good senior guards, are very young/thin up front- they've got 2 starters back from 14-17/6-10 team.
Wisc-Milwaukee was 1-2 out in Oregon over weekend, now has trip to western NY to face Niagara squad playing season opener. Panthers gave up 75.7 ppg out in Portland. Niagara lost four starters from LY's 18-15/ 9-9 team that beat UWM 85-79 in Bracket Buster game last winter- they have good point guard, but lot of young kids around him.
Penn has all five starters back from 6-22/5-9 team- they upset Davidson 69-64 in opener Saturday. Manhattan beat NJIT 75-70 in its opener; Jaspers lost five of their top six scorers from LY, albeit from 11-20/4-14 team. Penn gets senior G Bernardini back after missed all but one game LY with a foot injury.