College Basketball on Saturday and we will see the Butler Bullgogs travel to the Music City to take on the Vanderbilt Commodores. The game is scheduled for an 8:00 pm (Eastern) start time and will be televised on ESPN U. Currently the odds for the game have Baylor favored by 6 points while the total sits at 124. Check out Sportsbook Spy to see who the Public is taking on all of today's games.
Free Analysis: Brad Stevens and his Bulldogs have been on a roll lately with wins over Northwestern (74-65), Indiana (88-86 OT), and Evansville (75-67) in their last three appearances. The team's current six-game winning streak improved its overall record to 9-2, but it is just 1-1 on the road so far thanks to its early season loss at Xavier (62-47). Butler has been excellent versus opponents from top tier leagues with a 4-1 mark versus BCS conferences, the only setback coming to Illinois in the Maui Invitational championship game. The Bulldogs are decent on the offensive end with 74.9 points per game on 46.6 percent shooting from the floor, and they are limiting their foes to 67.3 ppg with makes on 42.9 percent of their field goal attempts. Smith (11.5 points) has scored in double figures in each game of Butler’s win streak. Over the past three games, the 6-11 Smith has averaged 18.7 points and 8.3 rebounds while shooting 70.4 percent from the field. Clarke leads the team in scoring (17.7) and hits 45.4 percent from beyond the arc. Khyle Marshall and Kellen Dunham each average 10.9 points. Senior guard Chase Stigall needs one 3-pointer for 100 in his career.
Vandy had its three-game winning streak snapped by a 56-52 loss to Middle Tennessee on Dec. 21, which dropped it to 5-5 on the season. Coach Kevin Stallings has his unit playing much better since its 1-3 start and it has since managed to defeat a pair of notable opponents in Texas-El Paso (73-49) and Xavier (66-64 OT). The Commodores are a much weaker team offensively this season after losing three players to the NBA as their scoring offense average is just 60.3 ppg. They are managing to win games due to a very tough defensive effort that has limited opponents to 59.6 ppg, which is the fourth lowest average among SEC schools. The Commodores were not able to take down Middle Tennessee in their last appearance despite a 25-point showing on 9-of-19 shooting by Kedren Johnson. The rest of the team made a combined total of nine field goals in the loss. Vandy struggled overall as it committed 18 turnovers and pulled down 25 rebounds to the Blue Raiders' 34 boards. Johnson is leading Vandy in scoring with 17.8 ppg and Kyle Fuller is chipping in 12.5 ppg. Freshman guard Kevin Bright has shown the ability to be a big time contributor as he recorded back- to-back double-doubles versus Villanova (12 points, 12 rebounds) and Xavier (11 points, 10 rebounds), but he has been held to less than 10 points and rebounds in each of his last three games.
Free Pick: I am looking at the Over in this one: Butler has been scoring more this year and come in averaging 74.9 ppg. They have also played with a bit more uptempo pace and they have shot very well, hitting 45.3% of their shots. Vandy's offense has not been that great, but should be able to put some points on the board vs a Butler squad that allows 66.7 pg overall. Overall Vandy averages just 60.3 ppg, but at home they do put up 67 ppg. I expect no less than 62 points from each team here.
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