Vegas Line at this writing: Utah -11 (No total at this writing)
With no real marquee matchups or must see TV games on tonight’s very ordinary college basketball card, we’ll head out West to The Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City where (16-7, 74, 44 RPI) Stanford takes on Utah (18-4, 8-2, 11 RPI) in a key Pac12 showdown. It’s been an up and down year for Johnny Dawkins crew with the Cardinal coming up short in several close games. Utah has been the “under-the-radar” team in the West that has very quietly had a big year for third year coach Larry Krystkowiak. The Utes are tied for the Pac12 lead and control their own destiny to be conference regular season champs as they host the Wildcats in the Pac12 finale on March 7th.
Stanford has won the last three games in the series, two by double-digits that includes an 87-56 beat down of the Utes in their last visit here in January of 2013. This is the only regular season between the two teams during conference play. Stanford’s four Pac12 losses are all by seven points or less. The Cardinal are 3-2 on the conference highway with both losses by a combined six points. The Utes have been killers at home winning all five games by 21+ points. Pac12 double-digit favorites are 9-3-2 this year.
Stanford: This is a critical game for the Cardinal who can just about lock up a Big Dance invite with a road upset of the No.11 Utes. That said, Stanford will have its hands full with a team with triple-revenge on its mind and no home losses this season. The Cards have the wins and RPI to play in late March but they tough road after this and could conceivably loss out with a game at Colorado, Cal and then games vs both Oregon and Arizona schools. The Tree basically gets all of its scoring from three players … shooting guard Chasson Randle (20.3), swing man Anthony Brown (15.8) and their big Stefan Nastic with (13.8). Stanford will have to play better defense (7th in conference, 87th in Div I) if they hope to be competitive here.
Utah: The Utes are an elite defensive team (1st Pac12, 9th Div I) but their true achilles heel might just be the last of a go to scorer. Delon Wright (14.2, 4.5, 5.6) is their senior go to guard and best player. Brandon Taylor (11.0) and Jordan Loveridge (10.5) are the only two Utes scoring in double figure. Krystkowiak has a long deep bench that he’s been able to use thanks to all the blowouts. Utah shot less than 40% in three of its four losses and the team doesn’t play well from behind thanks in large part to their slow deliberate play. That said, the Utes lead the nation in FG percentage and have shot 50% from the field in 11 different games. They get good looks and take good shots.
Allen’s Angles
Stanford is is 6-3 ATS this year vs string defensive teams allowing less than 64 ppg.
The Tree is 10-4 Over this year vs opponents with winning records
The Over is 20-8 in Stanford’s L28 road games, 7-1 this year
The Over is 9-2 in the Cardinal’s L11 games as a road dog of 9-12 points
The Utes are 29-11 as favorites under Krystkowiak, 12-4 this year
Utah is 41-19 ATS L60 vs winning records, 11-4 this year
The Over is 8-2 this year in Ute home games
The Under is 24-15 in the Utes L39 vs winning records