Today the Illinois State Redbirds will take on the Northern Iowa Panthers in the finals of the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament, which will take place as Scottrade Center in St Louis Missouri. The game has a start time of 2:00 pm (Eastern) and will be televised on CBS. Current Vegas betting odds have the Panthers listed as 4.5 point favorites, while the total is set at 118. 

Analysis: The Illinois State Redbirds got to the Finals of the MVC tournament by taking out Evansville by 4 points on Friday and then yesterday they shocked everyone by Beating highly ranked Wichita State by 3 points. The Redbirds are now 21-11 on the year and will need to win this game if they hope to gain entrance to the NCAA Tournament. The Redbirds have been a decent offensive team this year, ranking 139th in scoring (69.0 ppg), 152nd in shooting (43.9%), 155th in 3 point shooting (34.7%) and 79th in FT shooting (71.9%). Defensively Illinois State has been solid this year, ranking 35th in points allowed (62.3 ppg), 119th in defensive FG% (41.9%) and 115th in 3 point defense (33.1%). 

The Northern Iowa Panther have gone 29-3 overall for the year and have spent much of it ranked in the Top 25. The Panthers got to the Finals with wins over Bradley and Loyola-Chicago. Even should they lose this game I would expect them to be in the Big Dance. The Panthers have not been a good offensive team this year, ranking 230th in scoring (65.2 ppg), 9th in shooting (48.7%), 9th in 3 point shooting (40.1%) and 73rd in FT shooting (72.1%). The defense for this team has been excellent this year, ranking 4th in points allowed (54.1 ppg), 24th in defensive FG% (39.0%) and 38th in 3 point defense (31.1%).  

Pick: Going with the under here for sure. This is the Finals of the MVC and that should lead to plenty of offensive nerves, from two teams that are not great on offense. Both teams have been very good at the defensive end of the floor, especially the Panthers, who have allowed just 54.1 ppg overall and just 50.7 ppg in their last 6 games. This is a tough defensive team and you can bet they will bring their "A" game defensively for this one. The Panthers did score 84 points in an earlier matchup between these teams, but that is not their norm and they will be facing an Illinois State defense that has allowed just 58.3 ppg (Regulation) in their last 6 games.  Offensive nerves, coupled with solid defense in a slow down game should keep this one to around 110 points.   

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