Vegas Line at this writing: UConn -7 (No Total at Writing)
The late offering on the “Deuce” features two mid-table AAC teams looking to improve their conference seed and matchup. Both Memphis (17-12, 9-7, RPI 89) and defending national champion UConn (17-11, 10-6, RPI 70) are both NIT bound barring an improbable run (championship) in the ACC tournament. Memphis is 5-5 SU and ATS in its L10 and off B2B losses to conference heavies SMU and Tulsa. UConn has won six of eight overall and all seven of their home games in 2015, all seven by 6+ points. This is “Senior Night” for the Huskies.
The teams met February 19th at the Fed Ex Forum with Memphis (-2, 124) winning 75-72 despite being out-rebounded 41-27 for the games including 18-6 on the offensive glass. UConn shot 26-64 from the field including just 5-20 from downtown. Memphis was 26-55 from the field including 8-19 (43%) from beyond the arc. Foul shots
and turnovers were almost identical. UConn won 86-81 on this court last year. Memphis shot a blistering 54% from the field for the game but was hurt by a -12 turnover margin.
Memphis: The Tigers will likely be short-handed with leading scorer Austin Nichols out with an ankle injury. The 6’8 shooting forward (13.3, 6.1, 1.0) is listed doubtful on some sites and out 1-2 weeks on others so do your due diligence. Nichols had 16/8/3 in the first meeting. No one else on Memphis averages double-digits but the next seven players in the rotation average 9.1 to 5.9 ppg. The Tigers have only been more than six point dogs just twice this year, Gonzaga (+17.5) and Wichita State (+9.5).
* Memphis website Tiger247 has Nichols out
UConn: This is the final home game for the Husky seniors so the Storrs faithful will be out in force to honor leading scorer Ryan Boatright (17.7, 4.4, 4.3) who played such an integral part in last year’s National Championship run. The Huskies have three other double-digit scorers, all freshman and sophomores so Kevin Ollie has a lot to look forward to in the future. That said, UConn basically plays a seven man rotation and the end of the bench is somewhat thin. The Huskies are a very young team with a star/mentor veteran that took a beating early on with a tough non-conference schedule that featured West Virginia, Texas, Dayton, Duke and Stanford. Will it pay off here with another late season run ???
Allen’s Angles
The Tigers are 7-14 L21 as a dog, 0-7 this year
Memphis is 5-10 ATS vs, winning records
Memphis is 3-9 ATS this year vs. teams allowing 64 ppg. or less
The Under is 9-3 in the Tiger’s L12 off a conference loss
UConn is 9-3 ATS avenging a same year road loss, 3-0 this year
The Huskies are 3-6 ATS in their L9 vs. winning records
The Under is 20-8 in UConn’s L28 home games, 6-3 this year
The Over is 11-6 this year in Husky games vs. winning records