NCAA basketball on Saturday night and it is the finals of the Mid-American Conference Tournament. In this matchup we will see the Toledo Rockets take on the Western Michigan Broncos at the Quicken Loans Center in Cleveland, Ohio. The game has a start time of 6:30 pm (Eastern) and will be televised on ESPN 2. Vegas odds have the Rockets listed as 3.5 point favorites, while the total sits at 146.
Stat Pack: The Toledo Rockets got to the finals of the MAC Tournament by beating Eastern Michigan 59-44 last night. The win improved their record to 27-5 overall and 15-4 in the MAC. Toledo’s high powered offense comes in averaging 79.9 ppg (22nd) on 47% shooting (48th). This is also a good free shooting team that hits 72.9% of their freebies to rank 72nd in the nation. Julius Brown leads the Rockets in scoring at 14.5 ppg, while Justin Drummond (14.4 ppg) and Rian Pearson (14.4 ppg) are right behind him. J.D. Weatherspoon (11.1 ppg) rounds out the double digit scorers for the Rockets, while leading them in rebounding (6.7 rpg). Defense is usually optional on this team as they come in allowing 72.7 ppg (253rd) on 458% shooting (279th). That has led to plenty of hgh scoring games for this team.
The Western Michigan Broncos got to this game by beating Akron 64-60 in OT last night. The win improved the Broncos record to 27-9 on the year overall, while also having a 15-4 mark in the MAC. The Broncos average a modest 71.7 ppg (152nd), but they shoot the ball well, hitting 46.3% of their shots to rank 78th in the nation. Not a good team from long range (255th), but they do hit their free throws at a 72.3% clip, which is 91st in the nation. The offense is led by David Brown, who averages 19 ppg on the year. Shayne Whittington is 2nd in scoring (16.1 ppg), while leading the team in rebounding (9.0 rpg). Connar Tava (12.0 ppg) rounds out the double digit scorers on the team. Unlike the Rockets, this team does play defense as they have allowed just 67.1 ppg (98 th) on 40.8% shooting overall (54th) and 30.6% from long range (23rd).
Pick: I will be looking at the over in this game. These two teams met twice this year and put up 154 (regulation) and 163 points and this one should easily hit the 150's as well. Toledo averages 79.9 ppg on the year and they have scored 74.2 ppg in their last 5 games. WMU averages just 71.7 ppg on the year, but they have scored 75.2 ppg in their last 5 games and Toledo has allowed 69 or more points in their last 4 games vs teams not named Eastern Michigan. This one should be fun.
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