South Florida (23-13) at DePaul (18-16)
When: Wednesday, April 3rd, 2019
Where: McGrath-Phillips Arena,
Chicago, Illinois
Time: 8:00 ET | TV: ESPNU
Opening Odds: DePaul -4/146
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The South Florida Bulls lost seven of their last nine regular season games including a first round loss to UConn in the American Athletic Conference Tournament, but have bounced back with four straight victories in the College Basketball Invitational Tournament. They look to sweep the best-of-three series with the DePaul Blue Demons and increase their already program record in season wins to 24. USF held an 11-point lead in Game 1 down in Tampa with just over 10 minutes to play, but DePaul rallied back to tie it with 16 seconds left, but David Collins’ runner down the lane with 1.6 seconds left to give the Bulls a 63-61 win. DePaul had trouble shooting all night until late in the game when they started hitting some 3-pointers, shooting 38.5 percent overall and scoring 17 points below their season average. Should the Blue Demons even the series, the teams would stay right here and play Game 3 on Friday night. South Florida has not only won each of the past nine meetings, but they’ve covered the spread in every one.
Collins was the hero in Game 1 and is USF’s leading scorer at 15.9 points per game and has been deadly from long range during the Bulls’ winning streak. Collins hits only 31.9 percent from three-point range on the season, but has converted on 11-of-23 in the past five games after going 4-of-7 on Monday. Sophomore forward Alexis Yetna is third on the team in scoring (12.0) and tops in rebounding (9.6). His eight boards on Monday moved Yetna into second on USF’s season rebounds list with 327. Junior guard Laquincy Rideau (12.8 points, 5.3 assists, 3.7 rebounds) moved within six steals of 100 for the season.
The Blue Demons seemed to have missed point guard Devon Gage (8.8 points, 4.0 assists) on Monday after he sat out for a second straight game with a concussion and is questionable for Wednesday. Second-leading scorer Eli Cain (13.4 points, 3.4 assists) led DePaul with 19 points on Monday while Max Strus (19.9 points) contributed 17 on just 8-of-19 shooting, including 1-of-6 from 3-point territory. Strus also averages 6.0 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 3.2 three-pointers per game. Senior forward Femi Olujobi (12.7 points, 5.4 rebounds) is shooting 61 percent on the season which is second best in school history, but was just 3-of-9 on Monday.
I think the Bulls have DePaul right where they want. They really dominated that Game 1 and have a pretty good history in the series. Nine straight wins and nine straight covers. Make it ten – at leas on the cover.
Pick: South Florida +5.5
Bulls are 11-2 ATS in their last 13 road games vs. a team with a home winning % of greater than .600.
Bulls are 11-2 ATS in their last 13 road games vs. a team with a winning home record.
Bulls are 4-1 ATS in their last 5 road games following three or more consecutive home games.
Bulls are 11-3 ATS in their last 14 road games.
Bulls are 7-2 ATS in their last 9 non-conference games.
Bulls are 16-5 ATS in their last 21 games following a ATS win.
Bulls are 18-6 ATS in their last 24 games following a straight up win.
Bulls are 17-7 ATS in their last 24 games vs. a team with a winning straight up record.
Bulls are 4-9 ATS in their last 13 games overall.
Bulls are 7-21-1 ATS in their last 29 Wednesday games.
Blue Demons are 2-6 ATS in their last 8 games following a ATS loss.
Blue Demons are 2-7 ATS in their last 9 Wednesday games.
Blue Demons are 1-4 ATS in their last 5 games vs. a team with a winning straight up record.
Blue Demons are 1-5 ATS in their last 6 non-conference games.
Blue Demons are 1-5 ATS in their last 6 games overall.
Blue Demons are 1-6 ATS in their last 7 home games vs. a team with a losing road record.
Blue Demons are 0-6 ATS in their last 6 home games vs. a team with a road winning % of less than .400.
Under is 8-1 in Bulls last 9 non-conference games.
Over is 14-3 in Bulls last 17 Wednesday games.
Under is 4-1 in Bulls last 5 road games vs. a team with a winning home record.
Under is 4-1 in Bulls last 5 games following a straight up win.
Under is 4-1 in Bulls last 5 road games vs. a team with a home winning % of greater than .600.
Under is 13-6 in Bulls last 19 road games following three or more consecutive home games.
Over is 30-14 in Bulls last 44 road games.
Under is 37-18 in Bulls last 55 vs. Big East.
Over is 4-0 in Blue Demons last 4 Wednesday games.
Over is 5-0 in Blue Demons last 5 home games.
Under is 4-0 in Blue Demons last 4 vs. a team with a winning straight up record.
Over is 7-1 in Blue Demons last 8 overall.
Over is 5-1 in Blue Demons last 6 games vs. a team with a winning % above .600.
Over is 4-1 in Blue Demons last 5 home games vs. a team with a losing road record.
Over is 4-1 in Blue Demons last 5 games following a ATS loss.
Over is 7-2 in Blue Demons last 9 non-conference games.
Over is 6-2 in Blue Demons last 8 home games vs. a team with a road winning % of less than .400.
Bulls are 9-0 ATS in the last 9 meetings.
Bulls are 4-0 ATS in the last 4 meetings in DePaul.
Favorite is 7-1 ATS in the last 8 meetings.
Under is 5-2 in the last 7 meetings.
