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This is the penultimate full slate of Saturday college basketball left this season. Since four conference tournaments start in late February, there will be only one more week with a full schedule of college basketball after this one. We are seeing some separation between the teams that are ready for the offseason and the teams that are looking to make a run in the NCAA Tournament. The two games we are looking at this Saturday involve mid-major schools though, as there could be a strong angle in both tilts.
College Basketball Betting Odds at BetRivers Sportsbook
Old Dominion Monarchs at Appalachian State Mountaineers
The Old Dominion Monarchs and Appalachian State Mountaineers have similar overall records, and they are both 8-7 in conference play. However, Appalachian State has a real chance of blowing out Old Dominion in this game, so keep an eye out to see if the CBB betting line for this tilt is five points or fewer.
The Monarchs lost by nine points to the James Madison Dukes in a road game on Thursday night, and they could be without three of their seven rotation players against Appalachian State. Mekhi Long didn’t play last week and may have returned to action too early against James Madison as he was dealing with swelling and soreness in his knee and subsequently sat out most of the second half on Thursday. Imo Essien may have suffered a concussion after taking an elbow to the head, and there were fears that Ben Stanley tore his ACL.
Long is averaging 10.3 PPG and 8.3 RPG, Stanley is averaging 9.7 PPG and 3.8 RPG, and Essien is averaging 5.3 PPG with 2.8 RPG and 2.3 APG, so these are big losses. The loss of Stanley is potentially massive as he tore his other ACL while at Xavier, and he was previously a dominant player during his time at Hampton.
There isn’t a lot of size on this Old Dominion team and both Stanley and Long are 6’7. Meanwhile, Appalachian State has a few big men that now have the potential to dominate this game. C.J. Huntley is a 6’11 junior that is averaging 8.7 PPG and 6.0 RPG, and Justin Abson is a 6’9 forward that is averaging 6.5 PPG and 5.5 RPG. Only one player that sees significant minutes on the team is less than 6’3, so the Mountaineers could have a big advantage on the glass.
Additionally, Appalachian State won the first meeting between these teams by 14 points in Norfolk last month. Stanley and Essien both missed the game for Old Dominion, leading to the Mountaineers having a +10 advantage on the glass.
UNC Wilmington Seahawks at Delaware Blue Hens
There’s no doubt the Delaware Blue Hens will be an underdog per the college basketball betting odds against the UNC Wilmington Seahawks on Saturday afternoon. Delaware is 13-15 overall and 5-10 in conference play, while UNC Wilmington is 21-7 overall and 11-4 in conference action.
UNC Wilmington is the luckiest team in the country according to Ken Pomeroy. The Seahawks are only great at a couple things, but they are not far being College of Charleston and Hofstra in conference play even though they were blasted by 25+ points by both those teams in the last month. Delaware is 0-4 against those two powerhouses, but the Blue Hens have only gotten blown out once by one of those teams.
The Blue Hens have a very talented guard in Jameer Nelson Jr. The son of the long-time NBA point guard has been a chip off the old block, averaging 19.3 PPG, 4.8 RPG, and 3.7 APG for Delaware. He isn’t a good three-point shooter, but he can drive and slash and kick, giving his team good looks. That is helping Jyare Davis average 16.4 PPG alongside him.
Delaware does a woeful job of shooting threes, and that mitigates one of the big advantages UNC WImington has looking at this game. The Seahawks have one of the best three-point defenses in the country, allowing teams to make just 30% of their threes.
The other big advantage UNC Wilmington has is in its ability to get to the free throw line. However, the Seahawks send their opponents to the charity stripe often too, and their splits don’t tend to be as good away from home.
