NCAA basketball on Saturday night and it is the finals of the Big West Tournament. In this matchup we will see the Cal Poly SLO Mustangs take on the CSU Northridge Matadors at the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas Nevada. The game has a start time of 10:30 pm (Eastern) and will be televised on ESPN 2. Vegas odds have the Mustangs listed as 2.5 point favorites, while the total sits at 134.
Stat Pack: The Mustangs got to the Finals by upsetting UCSB and UC Irvine, which were the top two seeds in the Big West. The win now has the Mustangs sitting at 12-19 on the year. Offense is not a strong suit of this team. They play a very slow brand of ball that has resulted in just 63.3 ppg, which is 325th in the nation. The offense is led by Chris Eversley, who averages 13.4 ppg, while also leading the team in rebounding at 7.2 rpg. David Nwaba is the only other player on the team that averages in double figures as he scores 11.7 ppg. Defense is where this team has hung their hat this year as they have allowed just 63.6 ppg on the year, which is 37th in the nation. Teams do shoot well vs them, however, hitting 43.6% of their shots, which is 173rd in the nation.
The CSU Northridge Matadors got to the finals by beating Hawaii and Long Beach State. They now come in at 17-17 on the year. The Matadors play an uptempo offense that has produced 77.4 ppg, to rank 39th in the nation. They also rank 95th in the nation in FG% (45.8%), 70th in 3 point shooting (37.1%) and 1st in free throw shooting (79%). The offense is led by Stephen Maxwell and Stephan Hicks, who average 17.5 ppg and 17.4 ppg respectively, while Josh Greene is close behind them at 16.1 ppg. Maxwell leads the team in rebounding (9.0 rpg) as well. Defense on this team has been optional, as they come in allowing 78 ppg, which is 334th in the nation. They also rank 267th in defensive FG% (45.5%) and 225th in 3 point defense (35.1%).
Pick: I will be going with the Under in this game. Northridge's games this year have been very high scoring, averaging 151.4 ppg, but in the two games they played vs the Mustangs, there has been just 117 and 114 points scored. A big reason is that the Mustangs really slow the game down and they play very good defense as well. That defense has been rolling of late as they have allowed just 48 ppg in the first two games games of the Big West Tourney. They have averaged just 65 ppg in the two games as well and their last 4 games overall have averaged just 113.8 ppg. I know that the Matadors will try and speed the game up, but the Mustangs won't let them do that. The play great defense and have patience on offense. Mid 120's at best here.
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