No. 22. Davidson Wildcats (8-1) +5 at No.13 Purdue Boilermakers (8-2) -5
Canseco Field House, Indianapolis, I.N., 4:00PM Eastern, CBS
By Jay Horne of Predictem.com
The 2nd game highlighting the CBS double header this weekend will feature two top 25 teams in Davidson and Purdue. Davidson made their name known last season with a Cinderella type story making the elite eight. The Wildcats will travel to West Lafayette to take on a Big Ten powerhouse in the Purdue Boilermakers. These two opponents are predicted to have a tight physical game and should be exciting to watch.
The Boilermakers have already dropped two games early this season, but both of those games came from top 15 opponents Duke and Oklahoma. Purdue plays a slow pace game that is based around solid defense. The Boilermakers rank 16th in the nation in scoring defense only allowing 57 points per game. Purdue is also only allowing opposing teams to shoot 34.8% field goal percentage ranking them the 6th best team in that category. The Boilermakers hope their strong defensive aspect will be enough to hold off one of the nations top performers in Davidsons Stephen Curry.
The Wildcats lone loss this season came from the hands of no. 4 Oklahoma by 4 points 82-78. Oklahoma also took down Purdue this season by 5 points. Davidson looks to make a claim as one of the nations better teams when they take on Purdue. The Wildcats junior guard Stephen Curry is the hottest player in the nation this season averaging 31.9 points per game. Curry is shooting 48% from the floor and nearly 40% from behind the arc. Curry has the ability to really change the outcome of a game and his play will be key in the Wildcats success.
Bookmakers opened the betting line at 5 points favoring no. 13 Purdue over Davidson. The betting odds for each team ATS are at -110 and might favor the Wildcats a little more if the line itself does not change considering many of the early bettors like Davidson ATS in the match-up.
Davidson as a team is shooting 45% from the field this season. The Wildcats rank 7th in the nation in scoring offense averaging a strong 87 points per contest. The point total in the game will be interesting to watch consider Davidson likes to score a lot of points while Purdue likes to keep games rather low. Davidson has struggled on the boards this season allowing opposing teams to collect right at 35 rebounds per game placing them in the bottom half of the nation. Also, the Wildcats have allowed teams to score 70.4 points per game this season which again ranks in the bottom half of the nation. Will the Davidson offense be enough to overcome the Purdue defense and how big of an impact Stephen Curry plays will be huge factors in this game.
Purdue has 3 players averaging over 10 points this season led by sophomore forward Robbie Hummel. Hummels aim has been dead on this season shooting for 51% from the field and a very strong 46% from 3-point range. Hummel is averaging 15.6 points per game this season along with 7 rebounds. Sophomore guard ETwaun Moore has played a big role this season in the Boilermakers success. Moore is averaging 14 points per game along with 5 rebounds. Moore and Hummel will be a big factor in controlling the boards and inside the paint against the Wildcats. The Purdue will defense will need their big men to dominate the inside game forcing Davidson to shoot from the outside and miss some shots. The Boilermakers are averaging 37 rebounds per game. While that is not a big number of rebounds I expect them to grab at least 40 or more boards this Saturday.
Betting Trends
Davidson is 5-0 SU in their last 5 games while only going 2-3 ATS in those last 5 games. Purdue is 1-4 ATS in their last 5 games. The Boilermakers highest point total this season has only been 169 points following their extremely low scoring style of play.
Jays Pick: I think this game will go higher than the experts think. Take the over.
