Tip off: Noon, EST
Spread: MAR -4
Total: 136
TV: ESPN U
Bet at Bookmaker, where these odds where drawn from.
Wake Forest
It’s been a rough one for the Demon Deacons this year, and they sit four games below .500 going into this ACC tournament. They’ll get a chance at season redemption as they square off against Maryland tonight.
In the lone meeting with the Terrapins this season, Wake lost by six points, though they came back from down 18 at one point, trailing 44-26 early in the second half. Star forward Travis McKie had a huge game, putting up 25 points on 8 of 14 (4-6 from three) shooting while also corralling 7 rebounds. The 6’7″ sophomore is scoring 15.9 points per game on the season with an average of 6.9 rebounds per game (best on the team). McKie shot 54% as a freshman on his two point field goal attempts as a freshman, and his interior presence is a big reason for the Demon Deacons’ improvement this season, after winning only 8 games last year and getting blown out by Boston College in the first round of the ACC tournament.
C.J. Harris is the leading scorer for Wake, and puts up 16.8 points per game in 35 minutes of play a night. Harris is shooting a very respectable 48% from the floor and 43% from distance. He scored 20 or more in 10 Terrapins games and posted a season high of 23 points on three different occasions (Vs Yale, UNC-Wilmington, and Boston College). His outside shooting will keep the Terrapins perimeter defenders honest and allow McKie some room to operate on the baselines.
The Demon Deacons have a very tough interior defense with two very quality shot blockers in 7 footers Carson Derosiers and Ty Walker. They split the time at center pretty evenly and combine for 4.6 blocks per night. That anchors the Wake defense nicely, and covers for any blunders that Harris or Tony Chennault make in the backcourt. The Wake duo is the second best shot blocking tandem to only John Hensen and Tyler Zeller of UNC.
Wake Forest Betting Trends:
Head to head vs. Maryland: 2-8 SU last 10, 3-6-1 ATS last 10.
Maryland
The Terrapins are 16-14 on the year and finished with a 6-10 ACC record. As most middling teams, they do not rank high in any statistical categories, but are a good rebounding team, if nothing else (36.7 boards per game).
After reeling off seven straight wins in December and January, including an impressive win over Notre Dame, it seemed things might be on the way towards getting better for the Terrapins, but they have lost 7 of their last 10 and were badly beaten by then #6 UNC.
The thing the Terrapins do have going for them, of course, is that they did beat Wake in their matchup on January 11th. Sean Mosley scored 15, and James Padgett put up 11, but it was Terrell Stoglin who made the biggest difference, contributing 20 off the bench in 34 minutes of play. Maryland shot only 35% from the floor, but had 18 offensive rebounds, which compensated for the poor shooting. Also, the Terrapins only committed 8 turnovers.
Stoglin, a 6’1″ sophomore guard, is an elite passer and great at getting to the basket. He has quickly become one of the best scorers in the nation, as he has nearly doubled his scoring average from last season to an impressive 21.2 per game. Despite his craftiness with the ball, he’s not picking up many assists, actually less than his great freshman campaign last year (1.9 compared to 3.3 last year). He also has yet to become a game changer defensively, but that might be knit picking at this point for a player who has made such strides so quickly. Sunday night he scored 25 against Virginia, though he did so inefficiently, shooting 8 of 24 from the floor. He’s struggled with his shot badly recently, though, and has not shot over 35% from the floor for a game since the contest against Boston College on February 16th, a game which the Terrapins won by 16.
Maryland Betting Trends:
Maryland is 1-4 SU in their last 5 games and the total has gone OVER in 4 of their last 6 games. They are 4-1 SU in their last 5 against Wake Forest and 4-0-1 ATS in their last 5 against Wake. The total has gone UNDER in 7 of their last 9 games against Wake Forest.
