Tonight's Free Pick play will be in Game 1 of the CBI Finals between the UL Monroe Warhawks and the Loyola Ramblers, which will take place at the Joseph J. Gentile Center in Chicago, Illinois. The game has a start time of 8:00 pm (Eastern) and will be televised on CBSSN. Current Vegas betting odds have the Ramblers listed as 5.5 point favorites, while the total is set at 132.
Analysis: The UL Monroe Warhawks had a solid year as they have gone 24-12 overall, while finishing 3rd in the Sun Belt Conference this year. Monroe has made it to the Finals of the CBI Tournament by taking out Eastern Michigan, Mercer and Vermont. Monroe has gone 9-6 as a visitor this year. ULM has gone 8-0 ATS in their last 8 road games vs. a team with a winning home record and 15-5-1 ATS in their last 21 games following a S.U. win. The Warhawks have been a poor offensive squad this year, ranking 241st in scoring (64.8 ppg), 213th in shooting (42.9%), 318th in 3 point shooting (30.3%) and 101st in FT shooting (71.3%). The defense for this team has been very good this year, ranking 35th in points allowed (60.3 ppg), 6th in defensive FG% (38.1%) and 8th in 3 point defense (29.4%).
The Loyola Ramblers come in playing very good ball, as they have won 6 of their last 7 games, which includes beating Rider, Oral Roberts and Seattle to get to the finals of the CBI Tourney. Overall this year the Ramblers have gone 22-13, which includes a 12-6 mark at home. The Ramblers have gone 6-1 ATS in their last 7 games after allowing less than 50 points in their previous game, but just 1-5 ATS in their last 6 home games vs. a team with a winning road record. Loyola has been a poor offensive team this year, ranking 289th in scoring (62.7 ppg), 33rd in shooting (47.1%), 15th in 3 point shooting (39.4%) and 207th in FT shooting (68.5%). The defense for this team has been very good as they come in ranked, 37th in points allowed (60.4 ppg), 193rd in defensive FG% (43.4%) and 74th in 3 point defense (32.4%).
Pick: I will be going with the Under in this game. Both of these teams play slow on offense and have trouble scoring, while both team have played excellent defense this year and even with the new shot clock rules i can't see this one putting up more than 125 points. Loyola played an uptempo game vs Oral Roberts in their 2nd game of this tournament, but through the course of the year that was just their 3rd Division 1 home game all year that saw more than 130 points scored and their other two home games in this Tournament, with the new shot clock rules, have put up just 121 and 111 points. Overall this year Loyola home games have averaged just 121.2 ppg. The Ramblers have played excellent defense this year, allowing just 60.3 ppg overall and just 58.8 ppg at home, while Monroe has averaged just 61.8 ppg on just 39.4% shooting on the road. The Warhawks have also played solid defense this year as they have allowed just 61.2 ppg on 38.5% shooting overall, including just 62.8 ppg on 39.1% shooting on the road. The Ramblers are a solid shooting team, but because of their slow pace they average just 62.6 ppg overall and just 62.4 ppg at home. This is much like the game that the Ramblers had vs Seattle as it should be slow paced without much scoring and as I said in the open, I don't expect more than 125 points in this one.
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