NCAA basketball on Wednesday night and we will see the LSU Tigers travel to War Memorial Gymnasium in San Francisco to take on the San Francisco Dons in the first round of the NIT Tournament. The game has a start time of 10:00 pm (Eastern) and will be televised on ESPN U. Vegas odds have the Dons listed as 1.5 point favorites, while the total sits at 147.5.
Stat Pack: The LSU Tigers come in having gone 19-13 on the year overall and 9-9 in the SEC. They struggled on the road, going 3-8 and were very inconsistent down the stretch with a 4-6 mark in their last 10 games. The Tigers come in averaging 75.1 ppg, which is 70th in the nation. This is not a great shooting team as they hit just 44.4% of their shots overall (164th), 34.1% of their shots from long range (187th) and 66.9% from the charity stripe (270th). The offense is led by Johnny O’Bryant, who averages 15.4 ppg on a solid 49.4% shooting from the field. He is also tied from the team lead in rebounding (7.8 rpg) with Jordan Mickey, who is also 2nd on the team in scoring at 13.0 ppg. Andre Stringer (11.8 ppg) and Jarell Martin (10.2 ppg) round out the double digit scorers on the team. Defensively the Tigers do allow just 40.9% shooting overall (57th), but they also allow teams to hit 36% of their threes (272nd), while allowing 71.2 ppg, which is 209th in the nation.
San Francisco had a nice year, as they went 21-11 overall and 13-5 in the West Coast Conference. They finished the year winning 6 of their last 7 games, with that lone loss being to BYU in OT in the WCC tournament. The Dons also played well at home this year, where they went 13-5. The Dons average a solid 75.2 ppg, which is 68th in the nation. They shoot the ball very well from the field, ranking 29th in FG% overall (47.5%) and 68th in 3 points FG% (37.1%). The Dons have 4 players that average in double figures, led by Cole Dickerson, who averages 14.8 ppg, while also leading the team in rebounding at 7.7 rpg. Avry Holms (12.6 ppg), Kruize Pinkins (12.3 ppg) and Mark Tollefsen (10.7 ppg) round out the double digit scorers for the team. The Dons have not played good defense this year as they come in allowing 71.4 ppg (218th) on 43.8% shooting (188th).
Pick: Going with the home team here. The SEC had a very down year and LSU was very mediocre in that conference. Down the stretch they have been very inconsistent, winning just 4 of their last 10 games and they have gone just 3-8 on the road this year. The Dons have headed in the other directions as they have won 6 of their last 7 games and they have gone a very solid 13-5 at home this year. I see the Dons being a bit more motivated in this one than the Tigers and that should lead to a win by 5-7 points for the Dons.
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