College Basketball Betting - Boston College Eagles at (10) Purdue Boilermakers 7:00 PM ET
This line may initially seem rather high for a neutral court game, but in reality, it is about five points too low. Purdue is the class of the Big Ten along with Michigan St. and it will likely come down to those two teams who wins the conference.
The Boilermakers bring back seven of their top eight scorers from last season's team that went 25-9 and 15-3 in the Big Ten. It is a down year for the conference, but Purdue placed four players on the Preseason All-Big Ten Team including two on the first team.
One of those players is Robbie Hummel who averaged 11.4 ppg and 6.1 rpg and was voted the Big Ten Preseason Player of the Year. And he is only a sophomore.
He has no weakness in his game and after four games this year he is averaging 16.2 ppg, 5.8 rpg while shooting 52.8 percent from the floor including 55.6 percent from long range. Oh, and he has not missed a free throw in 17 attempts. He is just one of five returning starters that play with serious abandonment.
While the Boilermakers are a force on the offensive end, the defense is what this team wants to be known for and so far this season, they are living up to that.
The competition has been average but Purdue is limiting opponents to 50 ppg on 32.9 percent shooting. Purdue allowed only 62.4 ppg last season which was 42nd in the nation.
Boston College put up some big offensive numbers in its first three games at home but its first road game resulted in only 50 points on 33.3 percent shooting in a three-point loss to St. Louis.
Tyrese Rice had only six points in that game after coming off games of 16 and 28 points. This last game proved that if you stop him, you stop the Eagles.
The next top five scorers are all either freshmen or sophomores and while the numbers have been good, they will be overmatched here.
Boston College shot just 57.9 percent from the free throw line against St. Louis and that is a problem as Purdue is hitting 77.2 percent from the stripe on the season. Look for the Boilermakers to roll the Eagles at MSG.
Pick: Purdue -8½ (-105) available at 5Dimes.com.
- Matt Fargo
Check out the college basketball betting forum to post your picks or view other predictions. |
