NCAA basketball on Sunday afternoon and it is the finals of the Atlantic 10 Tournament. In this matchup we will see the St Joseph's Hawks take on the Virginia Commonwealth Rams at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn New York. The game has a start time of 1:00 pm (Eastern) and will be televised on CBS. Vegas odds have the Rams listed as 4.5 point favorites, while the total has yet to be set.
Stat Pack: St Joe's reached the finals with wins over Dayton and St Bonaventure and now stand at 23-9 on the year. The Hawks have won 8 of their last 10 games, which includes a 69-62 home win over VCU back in February. The Hawks have averaged just 71.5 ppg on the year, but this is a good shooting team that ranks 53rd in shooting overall (46.8%) and 46th in 3 point shooting (38.1%). The offense is led by Langston Galloway, who averages 17.4 ppg, while Ronald Roberts is 2nd at 14.4 ppg and DeAndre Bembry is 3rd at 12.0 ppg. Halil Kanacevic is 4th at 10.7 ppg, while leading the team in rebounding at 8.7 rpg. The defense for the Hawks is solid as they allow just 67.1 ppg on 42% shooting for the year. Both numbers rank 97th in the nation.
The VCU Rams come in off of wins over Richmond and George Washington. The two wins have improved their record to 26-7 overall, including 6 in a row. The VCU offense averages a solid 75.4 ppg, which is 65th in the nation. They are a poor shooting team that hits just 42% of their shots, to rank 265th in the nation. The offense is led by Treveon Graham, who averages 15.7 ppg. Juvonte Reddic is second on the team in scoring (12.0 ppg), while leading them in rebounding (8.5 rpg). Brainte Webber leads the team in both assists (126) and steals (115), while scoring 9.5 ppg. He is a big part of a defenes that ranks 51st in the nation in points allowed, giving up just 64.8 ppg, while also ranking 15th at defending the three, allowing teams to hit just 29.9% from long range.
Pick: Im going with the Rams in this one. They are playing very good ball and getting hot at just the right time. They have the better offense and defense in this one and St Joe's just won't be able to score enough points to keep this one close. I will also be waiting on the total in this one. I feel it has the potential to be a low scoring game and if the line is right I will be look ing at the Under. Check the Pregame forums tomorrow to see if I like the total as well.
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