The BYU Cougars and Stanford Cardinal look to build on impressive season-opening wins Monday when the teams meet at Maples Pavilion as part of ESPN’s Tip-Off Marathon. The game has a start time of 11:00 pm (Eastern) and will be televised on ESPN. Vegas odds have Stanford listed as 4 point favorites, while the total sits at 152.5.
Analysis: Last season the Cougars finished 24-12 overall but were not invited to the NCAA Tournament, instead settling for a run to the NIT semifinals, where they fell to Baylor. BYU opened this year with a solid 81-72 victory over Weber State and got solid play from Tyler Haws and Matt Carlino, who combined for 50 points, 19 rebounds and seven assists in the win. Haws was an all-West Coast Conference selection, and averaged 21.7 points last season to lead the league. Forward Eric Mika, who became the first freshman to start an opener for BYU since 1998, collected seven points, five rebounds and three blocks in the opener and sparked the Cougars’ decisive 15-1 run in the second half. Mika is expected to make an immediate impact near the basket this year.
Stanford won the NIT two years ago but last season managed to finish a mediocre 19-15, including an even split of its 18 games in league play, but they were 15-3 at home on the year. This is the second part of a three-game homestand for the Cardinal, who held off a feisty Bucknell squad, 72-68, in Friday's season opener. After finishing last in the Pac-12 in field-goal percentage last season (41.6 percent), the Cardinal provided reasons for optimism in their opener, as they shot 48.1% vs Bucknell. Center Stefan Nastic finished with 11 points on 4-of-5 shooting for Stanford, while Anthony Brown had 14 points and five rebounds while holding Bucknell star guard Cameron Ayers to 11 points on 5-of-16 shooting. Brown, who missed most of last year with a hip injury, will likely be charged with slowing down Haws tonight.
Pick: Im going to look at the Under here. Last year the Cardinal was 15-3 on their home floor, so they do tell play very well here and that tells me that they will get the pace that they like, which is not an up an down pace. This team will not let BYU dictate the pace in this game. Last year the Cardinal had 15 of their home games fail to top 150 points and I don't see this one topping that mark either. I look for a game in the low 140's at best here.
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