COLLEGE BASKETBALL PREDICTIONS – STEPHEN F. AUSTIN AND ABILENE CHRISTIAN
It’s the ‘Turnover Bowl’ Between Stephen F. Austin and Abilene Christian
One of the more interesting games to look at on Wednesday night, involving college basketball teams that are not considered to be in conferences that are “majors,” involves a Southland Conference tussle between the Abilene Christian Wildcatsand Stephen F Austin Lumberjacks. It takes place at 8:30 p.m. Eastern time and can be seen on ESPN Plus. If you are an onlinesportsbet or betonline customer, you can engage in live betting to enhance your experience, and be on the lookout for Odds Boosters, which offer payouts that are “loaded” on pre-selected parlays, every day of the week. It’s not hard to figure out what these teams want to do. They go out there applying pressure, fully intent on reading miscues on the part of the opponent. In terms of percentages, Abilene Christian is tops in the nation, inducing a turnover on 29 42% of possessions, while Stephen F. Austin is second at 26.5%. You may not see a terrifically high-scoring game, but you are going to see defenses that are moving quickly.
In a game like this you would imagine it means something to be able to take care of the ball better, and in that regard, Abilene Christian would have to have an edge. But it’s not like the ball-handling for either team is airtight.
SFA had the opportunity to take on 2nd-ranked Baylor earlier in the season, and they forced the Bears into 20 turnovers. However, they also committed a ghastly 35 themselves, so the game was no contest. But we have to take note that last season, the Lumberjacks pulled off a huge upset over then-#1 Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium, forcing 22 turnovers. That may have been something of a fluke, but not all the way – Stephen F Austin finished the season with a 28 – 3 record.
In the college basketball odds posted on this game, the home team is favored:
One of the other things that Abilene Christian does is shut off your three-point game. They’re one of the top five in the country at that, allowing just 29.4%. And they have been able to do stuff like this when moving up in class; earlier in the non-conference schedule, they threw a real scare into Texas Tech, taking them deep into the second half before losing 51 – 44, but holding the Red Raiders to just 28% from the field.
We don’t think Stephen F Austin cares a whole lot about the three-point shooting, as less than 18% of their total points come from triples. What they would like to do is to get to the free-throw line. in fact, they have just about as many free throws as they have field goal attempts. and you know what? Abilene Christian will let you do it; their opponents have scored 28% of their points at the charity stripe.
Maybe the wild card in this game is Abilene Christian’s 7-foot center Kolton Kohl, but even though Kohl is pretty talented offensively, he’s not as much of an Intimidator as one might expect from a seven-footer in the Southland Conference. On those occasions when they are able to beat the press, the Lumberjacks might have some success working the ball in for a good shot. After all, they have hit 61% of their attempts from two-point range. This will be a really interesting tactical match up, but we are going to take any points available with the visitor that knows how to get those easy baskets.
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