No. 19 UCONN Huskies (25-9) vs. No. 14 Louisville Cardinals (25-8)
NCAAB Point Spread: OFF
By: Barrett Kazmerzack of Coopers Pick CALL NOW 1-888-730-COOP
This game will be aired on ESPN at 9 PM and while lines are not out they should
be posted later this morning.
UCONN has looked more than impressive in their run to the Big East title game,
as they have beaten 3 ranked teams including 3rd ranked Pitt. Louisville’s run has
not been as impressive, but they beat 4th ranked Notre Dame yesterday to make
the finals. Neither team will get a top seed in the Big Dance, but the winner will
greatly improve their seed in the NCAA Tournament. The Huskies have lost to
the Cardinals 4 straight times including losing to them twice this season.
In the semifinals of the Big East tournament yesterday UCONN beat Syracuse
76-71 in OT and Louisville beat Notre Dame 83-77 also in OT.
Huskies’ G Kemba Walker has been on fire in the tournament averaging 27.8
ppg and in yesterday’s semifinals win he had a HUGE game with 33 points, 12
rebounds, 6 steals, and 5 assists. Walker and Alex Oriakhi were the only starters
that shot at least 50% from the field and overall UCONN struggled only shooting
37.9% from the floor. However, the Huskies played great defense holding
Syracuse to only 36.8% and they killed the Orange on the boards (45-37).
Oriakhi not only has to help Walker off in the scoring department, but he will also
have to hit the glass. If Louisville wins the battle of the boards they will likely win
this game with the outstanding guard play that they have.
Louisville came back from 14 points down to beat Notre Dame, but they also
did not shoot well only going 38.4% from the floor. Leading scorer Preston
Knowles did score 20 points, but he was only 6/19 from the field. The Cardinals
won because they played great defense in the 2nd half, but they will need their
backcourt to shoot the rock well since Louisville does not have a great inside
game.
In both games against Louisville this season the Huskies failed to shoot over
37% from the field while the Cardinals knocked down their shots. UCONN will
have to turn that around to avoid losing to Louisville for the 5th straight time.
In their 3 games in the Big East tournament UCONN is 3-0 ATS and Louisville is
2-0 ATS. Both teams have been solid betting teams on the season with Louisville
at 19-10-1 ATS and the Huskies at 17-11 ATS. Louisville has covered the spread
in their last 5 games against UCONN.
UCONN is 7-0 ATS in their last 7 neutral site games and Louisville is 7-0 ATS in
their last 7 games overall.
0 comments:
Post a Comment