NCAA basketball on Sunday afternoon and it is the finals of the Sun Belt Tournament. In this matchup we will see the Louisiana Ragin Cajuns take on the Georgia State Panthers at the Lakefront Arena in New Orleans. The game has a start time of 1:00 pm (Eastern) and will be televised on ESPN 2. Vegas odds have the Panthers listed as 7 point favorites, while the total has yet to be set.
Stat Pack: Louisiana got to the finals by beating Texas- Arlington and Western Kentucky. The Ragin Cajuns have now won 3 in a row and are 22-11 on the year. Louisiana averages a healthy 81.4 ppg (13th), on 46.9% shooting overall (50th) and 36.8% from long range (79th), but this is a poor free throw shooting team, hitting just 67.3% of their freebies to rank 261st. The offense is led by Elfrin Payton, who averages 19.1 ppg. Close behind Payton is Shawn Long, who scores 18.9 ppg, while leading the team in rebounds at 10.4 rpg and blocks with 88. Defense on this team is pretty much non-existent as they come in ranked 299th in points allowed (75.0 ppg) and 207th in defensive FG% (44.3%). They are a good rebounding team as they pull down 38 boards per game to rank 39th in the nation.
The Georgia State Panthers got to the finals by beating Arkansas State, 72-45. The Panthers won the regular season title in the Sun Belt with a 17-1 conference mark. They are now 25-7 overall and have won 8 games in a row. The Panthers rank 32nd in the nation in scoring (77.9 ppg), 38th in shooting overall (47.2%), 48th in 3-point shooting (37.9%) and 4th in free throw shooting (77.0%). The offense is led by R.J. Hunter, who averages 18.5 ppg on 45.5% shooting for the year. He also hits 40.1% from long range and 87.9% from the charity stripe. Ryan Harrow is another solid scorer as he averages 17.3 ppg, while Manny Atkins (14.5 ppg) and Devonta White (11.7 ppg) also average in double figures for the Panthers. Defensively this is a sound team that has allowed 67.8 ppg on 41.8% shooting for the year.
Pick: I will be going with the Panthers in this one. The offenses are pretty much even, but the Panthers know how to play defense and they get a huge edge in that department, as they allow just 67.8 ppg, compared to the 75 ppg that Louisiana has allowed. The Panthers have been by far the best team in the Sun Belt this year and they have beaten Louisiana twice this year already. Both games were pretty close, but I don't see this one being that way. Look for a 10-12 point win by GSU here.
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