La Salle Explorers AT Xavier Musketeers
Feb 22, 2011 at 7 PM EST
Opening Line: Xavier -15
Current Line: Xavier -14.5
Total: Undefined.
Moneyline: Xavier -1400 / LaSalle +1000
Since their January 6th loss to Cincinnati, Xavier has proceeded to play an incredible stretch of basketball games. They’ve won 12 of their last 13 since that game and they’ve ran their Atlantic 10 Conference record up to 11-1, ranking them first in the conference. La Salle has been on the opposite end of the spectrum as losers of 4 of their last 5. La Salle’s conference record has dipped to 4-8 ranking them 10th of 13 in the Conference.
Xavier has a potent offense. They rank 86th in the nation in points per game with 72.5 and they are also 76th in field goal percentage at 45.8% Their 20-6 record is attested to by a +6.8 point differential. While they are putting up big numbers, they are holding the oppositino to 65.6 a game. La Salle scores a lot, but gives up even more. Averaging 77.1 a game is good for 26th best in the nation, but they give up 78.7 a game.
Some betting trends:
La Salle is 5-10 SU in their last 15 road games and 2-5-3 ATS in their last 10 road games against Xavier. La Salle is 1-9 SU in their last 10 road games against Xavier.
Xavier is 5-0 SU in their last 5 games and the total has gone UNDER in 4 of Xavier’s last 6 games. Xavier is 1-4 ATS in their last 5 home games and 5-0 SU in their last 5 games at home. The total has gone OVER in 5 of Xavier’s last 5 games at home and Xavier is 16-2 SU in their last 18 games against LaSalle. The total has gone UNDER In 4 of Xavier’s last 5 games against La Salle and Xavier is 9-1 SU in their last 10 home games against the Explorers.
La Salle has a six man rotation featuring 6 players that all play 26+ minutes a game and average between 9.6 points per game and 15.2. Aaric Murray, a 6’10” sophomore center, is that 15.2, team leading scorer. He also is second in rebounding with 7.5 boards per game and records 2.2 blocks a game. He’ll hold down the middle and attempt to keep Holloway from penetrating too deep into the La Salle defense. Murray has scored in double figures in all but 5 LaSalle games, and of those five performances, La Salle only won one of them. Fellow 6’8″ senior big man Jerrell Williams leads the team in rebounding with 7.6 a game. He also averages 14 points per game. He had one of his better games of the year last game against George Washington, scoring 27 points on 10 of 18 shooting while also grabbing 4 rebounds. In games which he scores 20 or more, La Salle is 2-6, so it is actually an ominous sign when their second leading scorer scores too much.
Xavier is led by 6’0″ junior point guard Tu Holloway. Holloway plays almost the entire game and averages 38.4 minutes per game. In those minutes he puts up averages of 20.8 points per game, 5 assists per game, 4.8 rebounds, and 1.5 steals. He has scored in double figures in 21 of Xavier’s 22 games and has had 20 or more in 13 of the 22 games. He recorded a triple double (14 pts, 10 rbs, 14 asts) in a 83-75 win over Wake Forest on December 18th. Besides Holloway, there are three other Musketeers that average double figures. Mark Lyons (13.8 ppg), Kenny Frease (11.9 ppg), and Jamel McLean (11.4 ppg) form a great trio to back Holloway. Four of the Musketeers starting five players play 30 minutes or more a night and only one bench player plays more than 10 minutes a game (Jeff Robinson, 17 mpg). McLean, a 6’8″ senior forward, leads the way in rebounding with 8.8 per game. He has recorded seven double-doubles so far.
Xavier has the superior talent to win this game by double digits. The only question as to whether or not they will cover the spread is whether Holloway will be rested a lot or if he will get significant enough minutes to thorougly destroy the Explorers.
