NCAA basketball on Thursday night and we will see the Temple Owls travel to Louisville, Kentucky to take on the Louisville Cardinals. The game has a start time of 9:00 pm (Eastern) and will be televised on ESPN 2. Vegas odds have the Cardinals listed as 21.5 point favorites, while the total sits at 133.
Analysis: The Temple Owls are in the midst of a horrendous season as they come in at 7-19 overall and 2-12 with in the newly formed AAC. Temple hasn't played all that badly in two of their last 3 games, which include a win over SMU and a 3 point OT road loss to Memphis. Prior to that stretch they did lose by 24 on their home floor to Louisville. Temple is a solid offensive team, averaging 73.2 ppg on the year, but where they have gotten into trouble is on the defensive end of the floor, where they have allowed 77.2 ppg on 47% shooting, with both number ranking 324th in the nation. The offense is led by Dalton Pepper (17.2 ppg), Will Cummings (16.2 ppg) and Quenton DeCosey (15.2 ppg). Anthony Lee leads the team in rebounding and is also 4th on the team in scoring at 13.8 ppg.
The Louisville Cardinals come in at 23-4 overall and 12-2 within the AAC. The Cardinals have gone 14-2 at home this year and have won their home games by an average of 25.5 ppg. Louisville has been very good on the offensive end of the floor, where they have averaged 82.4 ppg overall and 82.9 ppg at home. The offense is led by Russ Smith, who averages 17.5 ppg, while also handing out 4.5 apg. Montrezl Harrell is 2nd on the team in scoring (13.0 ppg), while also leading them in rebounding at 8.2 rpg. Harrell also shoots 60.2% from the field. Defensively, the Cardinals are very stout, allowing just 61.4 ppg, to rank 19th in the nation. They also allow just 39.3% shooting, which is 17th in the nation. The achilles heel of the Cardinals is their FT shooting, as they rank 307th in that department, hitting just 65.4% of their freebies.
Pick: Going to look Under here. Overall the Cardinals have been playing higher scoring games than in years past, but in their last 5 games that has come down a bit as those games have averaged just 136.8 ppg. Louisville has played great defense this year, especially at home where they have allowed just 59.4 ppg and they have allowed just 54 points in each of their last 2 home games. Temple averages 71 ppg on the road, but they only scored 58 points vs Louisville at home earlier in the year and I don't see how they will hit even 60 points in this one. Louisville has averaged 84.9 ppg at home this year, but normally this is a team that will call off the dogs when they get up bg and with the spread on the game being 22 they should be up big in the second half. Another reason why I expect them to call off the dogs in the second half is because they have road dates with Memphis and SMU on deck. That should keep them from going crazy offensively in this one. Temple allows 76.4 ppg on the road, but still should keep the Cardinals under 80 points. 78-56 sounds about right.
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