Diamond Head Classic Semifinals: A look at Washington St-Baylor

Diamond Head Classic, Stan Sheriff Center, Honolulu, HI
Washington St Cougars vs Baylor Bears
Thursday, December 23, 2010, 6:50 pm Eastern, TV: ESPNU
Opening Line: Baylor -2
Current Line: Baylor -3 1/2
Opening Total: 136 1/2
Current Total: 132
Money Line: Baylor -165 / WSU +145

LaceDarius Dunn and the Baylor Bears are 3 1/2 point favorites over the Washington St Cougars in the semifinals of the Diamond Head Classic.

Both of these teams have one loss on the season. Washington St is 9-1 and Baylor is 8-1. Both won there opening round games in this tournament handily. Washington St went on a 29-2 run in the second half to destroy Mississippi St 83-57. Baylor beat San Diego 83-50 to advance to the semifinals. For the season Washington St lost at Kansas St 63-58 but beat Gonzaga at home 81-59. Gonzaga gave Baylor their only loss of the season last Saturday in Dallas 68-64. Outside of the games against Kansas St and Gonzaga Washington St has beaten some pretty weak teams and doesn’t have another quality win on their schedule. Baylor’s schedule is even softer with a win over Arizona St their only semi-quality game. The winner of this game will take on the winner of Florida St-Butler in the championship game Christmas Day. Washington St is 9-20 ATS as an underdog the last 3 seasons. Baylor is 14-5 ATS in non-conference road games over the last 3 seasons. The two teams have played 3 times. Washington St has won 2 games in the series, but Baylor won the last meeting in 2008 58-52 in Pullman, WA.

In Washington St’s victory over Mississippi St, guard Klay Thompson scored 28 points to lead all scorers. Thompson is averaging 22 points a game for the year. Sixth man Faisel Aden scored 20 off the bench, and also pulled down 7 rebounds and forced 3 steals. Aden is second on the team in scoring with 17 points a game. The Cougars harassed Mississippi St into 21 turnovers in the rout. Washington St is outscoring opponents 79-59 on the season. They are shooting 49.7% from the field and 39.5% from three point range. The Cougars struggle from the free throw line making only 64.2% of their free throws. They average 36 rebounds a game and have a rebounding margin of +0.8. Guard Marcus Capers leads the team in rebounds with 6.2 a game. The Cougars average 14.9 assists and 12.1 turnovers a game. Thompson leads the team in both categories with 4.7 assists and 3.3 turnovers. WSU averages 8.7 steals and 4 blocks a game. Thompson also leads the team in steals with 2.2 a game. Power Forward DeAngelo Castro leads the team in blocks with 2.4 a game.

Baylor is second in the nation in scoring defense allowing only 53 points a game. They score 76 points a game themselves. Baylor overwhelmed San Diego 83-50. They never trailed in the game and were up 48-19 at halftime. Baylor forced 18 San Diego turnovers and 5 Bears scored in double figures, led by forward Anthony Jones with 16 points. Guard LaceDarius Dunn leads the team in scoring for the season averaging 20.3 points a game, but he scored only 13 against San Diego. Baylor shoots 49.3% from the field and 34.3% from three point land. They also struggle from the free throw line converting only 68.7%. Baylor averages 41.1 rebounds a game and has a rebounding margin of +12.2. Center Perry Jones leads the team in rebounding with 8.6 a game. He also scores 13.6 points a game. The Cougars average 14 assists and 16.4 turnovers a game. Point Guard A.J. Walton leads the team in both categories with 5.4 assists and 3.6 turnovers a game. Baylor also averages 8.6 steals and 4.9 blocks a game. Dunn and Walton are tied for the team lead in steals with 2.3 a game. Back-up Center J’mison Morgan leads the tema in blocks with 1.4 a game.

Neither of these teams have played a demanding schedule yet and this will be a nice test for both teams. This should be a close game, but I think the rebounding edge for Baylor will be the difference.