Best Start Warns Goal Efficiency For Field Goal Attempts

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

Despite playing the majority of the season without leading scorer and rebounder Trevor Mbakwe (14.0 ppg, 9.1 rpg), Minnesota is holding its own in the ultra-competitive Big Ten. The Gophers are averaging 70.2 ppg on typical shooting outputs of 48.1 percent overall and better than 70 percent from the foul line. They are also outworking the opposition on the glass (+3.7) while goading the same into more than 14 turnovers per outing. Rodney Williams (10.7 ppg, 5.8 rpg) and Julian Welch (10.6 ppg, 2.6 apg) are the only two active double-digit scorers for coach Tubby Smith's club, but there are six guys who average at least 6.0 ppg. Defensively, UM allows an average of 62.8 ppg, with foes shooting just 41.0 percent from the field. All five starters scored in double figures, led by freshman Joe Coleman's 16-point effort, as Minnesota blew the doors off Northwestern the last time out, winning by 23. Welch finished with a line of 14 points, six rebounds and five assists for the Gophers, who shot a sizzling 57.7 percent from the floor, despite missing nine of their 12 three-point attempts. The Wildcats were limited to 32.7 percent field goal efficiency, and they lost the battle on the boards by a 40-28 margin.

Mississippi State is enjoying another solid campaign with veteran coach Rick Stansbury at the helm, as the team is 16-4 overall and has won three of its first five SEC affairs. The Bulldogs picked up an important conference road win over the weekend, slipping past Vanderbilt in overtime, 78-77. MSU is 11-1 at home this season, its lone setback at Humphrey Coliseum coming against Akron in early November.

This game marks the 201st meeting all-time between LSU and MSU, with the Tigers clinging to a 104-96 advantage. The Bulldogs have won four of the last five meetings, although LSU has been victorious in two of the last three played in Starkville, including last year's 84-82 final.

Dee Bost scored 24 points and Arnett Moultrie logged yet another double-double with 21 points and 14 rebounds, helping Mississippi State battle back from a 13-point deficit to win in overtime at Vanderbilt on Saturday. The Bulldogs nailed 10 three-pointers in the game, five of which belonged to Jalen Steele (15 points), and they outscored the Commodores at the free-throw line, 14-5. MSU shot a dismal 28.6 percent in the opening half, but hit 51.7 percent after the break, and an ultra-efficient 80.0 percent in the extra session to earn the hard-fought win. Moultrie continues to make his claim for SEC Player of the Year consideration as he is producing 16.4 points and 11.2 rebounds per game as one of a handful of guys nationally averaging a double-double on the season. Despite his poor 38.6 percent shooting effort, Bost is also netting 16.4 ppg, and he also serves as the team's primary playmaker with 88 assists (4.4 per tilt). Rodney Hood (11.5 ppg, 5.1 rpg) and Renardo Sidney (10.5 ppg, 4.9 rpg) round out the double-digit scorers for the Bulldogs, who average 73.7 ppg, own a +3.1 rebounding margin, and allow only 65.3 ppg.

Texas Tech head coach Billy Gillispie had high hopes for his first year in Lubbock, but things haven't gone according to plan as his team is just 7-11 overall and has lost its first six Big 12 bouts -- the first time that has happened since the 1999-2000 campaign. The Red Raiders, who are 6-3 at home this season, haven't tasted victory since winning back-to-back games against Cal State Bakersfield and Southeastern Louisiana to close out the 2011 calendar year.

Despite a rough shooting effort that saw Kansas State hit a mere 36.4 percent of its field goal attempts and only 21.4 percent of its three-point tries, the Wildcats picked up the big win at Oklahoma State over the weekend thanks to a 50-29 rebounding advantage and some pretty stingy defense which allowed the Cowboys to shoot just 34.8 percent from the floor, which included a horrendous 1-of-16 showing from beyond the arc. Rodney McGruder and Angel Rodriguez scored 14 points apiece to lead K-State, which also got a double-double from Jamar Samuels, who tallied 12 points and as many rebounds. Both teams turned the ball over 16 times and scored nearly the same number of points from the foul line (OSU 25, KSU 23), but the 'Cats worked harder on the inside, outscoring the Pokes in the paint, 32-18. Kansas State has now held six opponents this season below 60 points, including two Big 12 foes. McGruder leads the team in scoring with 15.6 ppg, the team as a whole is averaging 74.8 ppg while allowing 64.5 ppg.

Boise, ID (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Off to their best start in two decades, the 12th- ranked UNLV Runnin' Rebels take their act on the road tonight as they challenge the latest addition to the Mountain West Conference, the Boise State Broncos, at Taco Bell Arena. Sure, there have been a few bumps in the road for the Runnin' Rebels this season, such as the 89-70 blowout loss to Wichita State the first week of December, but can anyone really blame them for bowing to Wisconsin and San Diego State, both of which were nationally ranked at the time? Since that 69-67 setback to the Aztecs on the road on January 14, UNLV has bounced back with convincing league victories, the most recent of those being an 80-63 domination of New Mexico at home over the weekend.

Over the weekend, the Broncos appeared to be well on their way to their first MWC win, but a double-digit lead in the second half against TCU was erased and Boise State was dealt a 54 52 setback in Fort Worth, which means BSU is still winless on the road in seven tries and has fallen in four straight outings overall.

The Rebels have won two of the previous three meetings in the series with Boise State, the most recent of those coming last season at Orleans Arena in Las Vegas by a score of 75-72. The lone win for the Broncos came in the first round of the 2004 NIT, 84-69, in Idaho.

comments

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•    First day back doing supply, last time I was in this school I fell flat on my back in the dinner hall...hoping to remain on my feet today!

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•    tomorrow is the last time I will ever do chemistry again (hopefully).. Someone remind me why I took this fucking course?

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•    Get out of bed. Immediately start singing Bohemian Rhapsody while doing morning things. My mind is clearly the best place to be!

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•    Its time to go back for the last time

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•    BAM, what a goal!2-0! Dani Alves, brilliant strike! Bye bye real, that's efficiency! Visca el Barça<3

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•    $20 just to drive thru your state. Not even to philly. #penn

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•    #Liverpool are actually shit! How many attempts and 1 goal? 😄 deserve to lose for having poor strikers! Need penalties to bag! #carlingcup

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