NCAA basketball on Tuesday night and we will see the Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles travel to the Twin Cities to take on the Minnesota Golden Gophers in the quarterfinals of the NIT Tournament. The game has a start time of 9:00 pm (Eastern) and will be televised on ESPN . Vegas odds have the Golden Gophers listed as 4.5 point favorites, while the total sits at 136.5.
Stat Pack: Southern Mississippi got to this game by beating Toledo at home and then they took out Missouri on the road. The Golden Eagles now stand at 29-6 on the year, including a 10-5 mark away from home. The Golden Eagles come in averaging a modest 72.1 ppg (138th) on 46.4% shooting (62nd). They do struggle at the charity stripe, hitting just 68.1% of their freebies, to rank 241st in the nation. The Offense is led by Michael Craig, who averages 11.2 ppg, while also leading the team in rebounding at 7.6 rpg. Neil Watson (10.6 ppg) Daveon Boardingham (10.2 ppg) and Aaron Brown (10.0 ppg) also average in double figures for the Golden Eagles. Defensively this team is pretty sound, as they allow just 62.8 ppg (30th) on 42.3% shooting (110th) for the year. The Golden Eagles are 4-0-1 TS in their last 5 games vs non-conference teams.
As for the Golden Gophers, they got to this game with a pair of home wins over Holy Cross and St Mary's. Minnesota is now 22-13 on the year, including a solid 17-3 at home. Minnesota is very average on offense as they come in scoring just 71.5 ppg (155th) on 44.6% shooting overall (153rd) and 35% shooting from long range (149th). They are 27th in the nation in FT shooting, hitting 74.4% of their freebies this year. The offense is led by Andre Hollins, who averages 13.6 ppg, while Deandre Mathieu (12 ppg) and Austin Hollins (11.7 ppg) also average in double figures for the Golden Gophers. On Defense this nteam is pretty solid as they allow just 67.8 ppg (114th) on 42.5% shooting overall (116th) and 34.6% from long range. Minnesota is 7-1 ATS in their last 8 games vs Conference USA.
Pick: Yes we will be going with the Under here. Neither team plays an all-out uptempo game and both teams play solid defense, which should make this more of a defensive battle. Southern Miss went 10-5 on the road this year, but they still scored just 66.3 ppg in those games and Minnesota doesn't allow a whole lot at home, giving up just 64.2 ppg on 41.7% shooting on their home floor this year. Southern Miss has played solid defense all year, allowing just 63.2 ppg on 42.3% shooting overall, including allowing just 64.7 ppg on 42.7% shooting on the road this year. Minnesota does average 74.6 ppg at home, but just 80.4 ppg in their last 5 games overall and Southern Miss has allowed just 61 ppg in their last 6 games overall, plus the Golden Eagles haven't allowed more than 66 points in 7 of their last 9 games. This should be a pretty tight game, which should lead to allot of walking the ball up the court in the second half and provided we don't get OT here I see this one staying in the 120's at best.
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