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What Happened Last Night
- Vanderbilt 74, Radford 62: The Vanderbilt Commodores got off to a sluggish start, trailing 29-19 with 5:02 to go in the first half — and then Riley LaChance took over the game. Held scoreless for the game’s first 15 minutes, LaChance had 11 points in the last five minutes of the half and finished the night with a new career high, 27 points on 7-of-11 from the floor and a perfect 10-for-10 at the foul line. The Commodores couldn’t hit from beyond the arc (7-of-27) but did shoot 60 percent inside the arc.
- South Dakota State 99, Ole Miss 97 (OT): A wild one in Oxford ended with the Ole Miss Rebels taking the L. The Rebels trailed by 20 at the half as South Dakota State came out on fire, hitting 11-of-21 on three-pointers before intermission. But Ole Miss rallied back to take a four-point lead with two minutes to go, only to see South Dakota State tie it up on a free throw after Terence Davis (who had 22 points on the night) picked up his fifth foul. In overtime, SDSU’s Mike Daum (26 points) fouled out with 3:45 left, but a Reed Tellinghuisen three gave the Jackrabbits a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.
Tonight’s Games
Time (ET) | Game | TV/Streaming |
---|---|---|
7:00 PM | Mercer at Tennessee | SEC Network+/WatchESPN |
7:00 PM | Auburn at Dayton | CBS Sports Network/CBSSports.com |
8:00 PM | UT-Martin at LSU | SEC Network+/WatchESPN |
8:00 PM | Louisiana Tech at Alabama | SEC Network+/WatchESPN |
The highlight of the schedule tonight is the Auburn Tigers taking a trip up to play the Dayton Flyers. This isn’t a vintage Dayton team — the Flyers dropped games to Hofstra and Old Dominion in the Charleston Classic — but it’s a good early test for Auburn, which is 4-1 on the season and seems to be reminding everyone that there’s talent on the roster even without Austin Wiley and Danjel Purifoy.
Elsewhere, the Tennessee Volunteers play the sneaky good Mercer Bears, who are 5-2 and ranked #84 in KenPom. That’s a tougher test than the name would imply, but the Vols have been impressive in a 4-1 start (with the only loss coming against a top-5 Villanova team.) The Alabama Crimson Tide will play the unbeaten Louisiana Tech Bulldogs, though Alabama is considerably better than any of the Bulldogs’ five opponents so far this year. Rounding out the slate, the LSU Tigers face the 1-5 UT-Martin Skyhawks in what figures to be a relatively easy game.
Bad Gambling Advice
Last night: 2-0 ATS; Season to Date: 15-13 ATS
- Auburn at Dayton (+3.5): This is Auburn’s first true road game of the year, so while they might come away with the W this one will be close.
- Mercer at Tennessee (-8.5): Mercer isn’t a bad team, but I suspect the oddsmakers still haven’t caught up to a Tennessee team that’s legitimately good based on early indications.
- Louisiana Tech (+12) at Alabama: I’m not super confident in this one going either way, but I think Louisiana Tech’s good enough to keep this respectable.
- UT-Martin at LSU (-13): LSU still doesn’t play much defense, but that shouldn’t be a problem against a UT-Martin team that can’t score anyway.