Northern Iowa (17-11) At Vcu (22-6)

NORTHERN IOWA (17-11) at VCU (22-6)

Sportsbook.com Line & Total: VCU -5.5 & 124.5
Opening Line & Total: VCU -6 & 122.5

It’s hard to decide which of these two teams is coming off a more heart-breaking loss: While Evansville’s Denver Holmes banked in a 3-pointer with 0.6 seconds left to sink Northern Iowa, 63-62, on Wednesday, George Mason’s Sherrod Wright raced up the court and made a buzzer-beating 25-foot three-pointer in a 62-61 win over VCU. The loss to Evansville was Northern Iowa’s fifth straight road defeat, and the Panthers failed to cover any of those games.

Neither of these teams is in line for an NCAA Tournament at-large bid, but they’ll both have plenty of incentive with this being a nationally televised game as part of ESPN’s BracketBuster series. Northern Iowa is 5-4 in BracketBuster games over the years while VCU is 4-3. And although this will be the first meeting between the schools, the teams do share the common bond of knocking Kansas out of the NCAA tournament the past two years. VCU is led by senior forward Bradford Burgess, whose 13 points per game leads the team. Expect the Commodores to try to push the tempo of this game and make it a track meet, which would get Northern Iowa out of its comfort zone as a team that prefers a much slower-paced half-court game.

Northern Iowa’s leading scorer is 6-foot junior guard Anthony James, who comes off the bench for 13 points per game. The Panthers lead the Missouri Valley Conference in scoring defense, holding opposing teams to less than 62 points per game despite playing in a conference in which three teams average 70 points or more. They also take care of the ball well on offense, turning it over just 10.8 times a game. Northern Iowa ranks 28th nationally in offensive turnover percentage and 27th in three-point percentage, shooting 39.2 percent from behind the arc. UNI freshman forward Seth Tuttle leads the Missouri Valley Conference in field-goal percentage (.660). What the Panthers lack, however, is the athleticism to keep up with a talented team like VCU for 40 minutes.


Valparaiso (19-9) at Loyola Marymount (17-10)

Sportsbook.com Line & Total: Loyola Marymount -5 & 138
Opening Line & Total: LM -6 & 136.5

While each of these teams enter this game having won five of their last six, it’s Loyola Marymount that’s done it against quality competition: The Lions followed up a road loss on Saturday at Gonzaga with an impressive 15-point upset win at 16th-ranked St. Mary’s in a game in which they were a 14-point underdog. Valpo iis 7-0 ATS as a road underdog of 3.5 to 6 points over the last three seasons Over that same span, Loyola Marymount is 1-9 ATS in home games where the total is 135 to 139.5.

This marks the first all-time meeting between these two schools. Valparaiso has previously played five current West Coast Conference teams a total of seven times and owns a 5-2 record against league members. The most recent meeting between Valpo and a WCC squad came on Nov. 21, 2008, when the Crusaders lost to San Diego, 73-66, on a neutral court.

Over the last five games, Valpo is shooting a scorching 47.1 percent (48-of-102) from beyond the three-point arc. The Crusaders started the season shooting under 30 percent from long range over the season’s first ten games, but since is hitting at a 38.4% clip from behind the line. Meanwhile, the team is also extremely proficient from inside the arc, knocking down 55.4% of its tries from two-point range, which is tied for second nationally. Of Valpo’s seven rotation players who have been playing the entire season, all seven are hitting at least half of their two-point attempts. The players who’s been standing out the most recently is junior Richie Edwards, who started his hot stretch with back-to-back 16-point efforts two weekends ago against Detroit and Wright State. Last Thursday against Cleveland State, Edwards posted a 20-point night, his best effort of the season against a Division I opponent, and then scored 19 points in his first career start at Youngstown State. Last time out, the junior went 5-of-7 from the field and 8-of-9 from the foul line for a team-best 19 points against Illinois-Chicago.

Loyola Marymount’s win over St. Mary’s was its third victory in five tries this season against a ranked opponent, and it gave the Lions their most wins in West Coast Conference play since the Elite Eight team in 1989-90, which went 13-1. LMU entered this week ranked 17th nationally in three-point field goal defense and are now holding opponents to 28.8 percent shooting from long range after limiting Saint Marys to 21.4 percent. The Lions average nearly 71 points per game, led by 16.3 PPG and 5.3 PPG from senior Drew Viney. Sophomore Anthony Ireland adds 15.4 PPG as well, as LMU boasts four players averaging in double figures on the season. The Lions also lead the WCC and rank 45th nationally in free throw percentage, hitting 73.0 percent. The Lions top six scorers all hit better than 73 percent, including LaRon Armsteads 85.5 percent, which leads the WCC and ranks 42nd nationally.