Sunday college basketball and we will see the USC Trojans travel to Maples Pavilion to take on the Stanford Cardinal. The game has a start time of 8:30 pm (Eastern) and will be televised on ESPN U. Current Vegas betting odds have Stanford listed as 14 point favorites, while the total is set at 132.
Analysis: The USC Trojans have been playing some bad ball of late as they have lost 7 in a row and 9 of their last 10. That run has all been in the Pac 12 where they are 1-9 in Conference play and just 9-13 overall. USC has gone 4-1 ATS in their last 5 games vs. a team with a winning % above .600 and 9-3 ATS in their last 12 road games vs. a team with a winning home record. The Trojans have been an average offensive team this year, ranking 190th in scoring (67.0 ppg), 264th in shooting (41.7%), 302nd in 3 point shooting (30.7%) and 309th in FT shooting (64.5%). Defensively the Trojans have been poor, ranking 277th in points allowed (70.2 ppg), 147th in defensive FG% (42.1%) and 96th in 3 point defense (32.1%).
The Stanford Cardinal come in having lost their last 2 games in a row, which include a heartbreaking one point loss at Washington State and then a tough 2 point home loss to UCLA. The losses have dropped the Cardinal to 15-7 on the year overall, which includes marks of 6-4 in the Pac-12 and 10-2 at home. Stanford has gone 9-3-1 ATS in their last 13 games vs. a team with a losing S.U. record. The Cardinal have been a very good offensive team this year, as they come in ranked 32nd in scoring (75.1 ppg), 95th in shooting (45.0%), 6th in 3 point shooting (41.0%) and 106th in FT shooting (70.8%). Defensively the Cardinal has been average, ranking 188th in points allowed (67.0 ppg), 154th in defensive FG% (42.3%) and 286th in 3 point defense (36.6%).
Pick: Going with the Under in this game. USC road games have averaged just 135.2 ppg, while Stanford home games have averaged just 133.4 ppg. I know that Stanford games have been very high scoring of late, but this still seems like too high an OU line. The Trojans do have offensive woes on the road where they have averaged just 64.6 ppg and Stanford has allowed just 60.2 ppg at home. I just don't see more than 80 points from the Cardinal here and I really don't see 65+ from the Trojans in this game. 76-62 sounds about right here.
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