The Portland Pilots will take on the BYU Cougars in the Semifinals of the West Coast Tournament, which will be played at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas Nevada. The game has a start time of 11:30 pm (Eastern) and will be televised on ESPN 2. Current Vegas betting odds have the Cougars listed as 8.5 point favorites, while the total is set at 152. 

Analysis: The BYU Cougars come in on a 6 game winning streak, which includes a big 3 point road win at Gonzaga in the regular season finale. The Cougars have the 2nd seed in the WCC tournament, while overall they have gone 23-8 on the year. The Cougars have been a very good offensive team this year, ranking 2nd in the nation in scoring (84.0 ppg), 47th shooting (46.7%), 38th in 3 point shooting (38.7%) and 6th in FT shooting (76.8%). The defense for this team has been very poor, ranking 305th in points allowed (71.9 ppg), 186th in defensive FG% (43.1%) and 69th in 3 point defense (31.9%).  

The Portland Pilots come into this game off a shocking 17 point win over 3rd seed St Mary's on Saturday afternoon. That win snapped a 4 game losing streak fro the Pilots, who are now 17-14 for the year, including 3-1 in neutral site games. Portland has been a decent offensive squad this year, ranking 99th in scoring (70.3 ppg), 120th in shooting (44.4%), 37th in 3 point shooting (38.6%) and 100th in FT shooting (71.1%). Defensively the Pilots have not been so good this year, ranking 210th in points allowed (67.6 ppg), 162nd in defensive FG% (42.6%) and 104th in 3 point defense (32.9%).  

Pick: Going with the Under here. I know that these teams have played high scoring games vs each other this year, but this is now tournament ball and they Under has cashed in 9 of BYUs last 12 on neutral courts. Portland's last 5 games have averaged just 138.2 ppg, while BYU's last 5 have put up 145.6. I can see this one staying in the mid-140s as well. 

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