When these teams met back in January, the game went into overtime before the Panthers could emerge victorious. The Eagles hope that playing this game at home will help give them a little extra boost to not only cover the spread, but also earn the outright win this time around.
You can beat the college basketball odds at BookMaker.eu every day of the season.
HOW THE GEORGIA STATE PANTHERS CAN COVER THE SPREAD
The last time these teams played, the Panthers got at least 10 points from each starter and held the Eagles to just 35 percent shooting from the floor.
Defense is the strength of this Panthers’ squad. They’re allowing just 64.1 PPG, ranking No. 21 in the nation. The Eagles are shooting a meager 41 percent from the floor as a team so you can look for Georgia State to keep the Eagles scoring in check once again on Tuesday.
Offensively, the Panthers aren’t that strong, but they did get solid production from each starter last time out against the Eagles. They also got 18-points from Jeremy Hollowell and 17 from Isiah Williams off the bench in their last game, an eight point win over Arkansas State.
While the offense is a bit of a struggle for Georgia State, it does have a far better matchup to excel in that regard. Georgia Southern is allowing 75.2 PPG to their opponents.
Individually, the Panthers have Hollowell leading the team in scoring with 14.8 PPG while shooting 43.4 percent from the floor and 80.5 percent from the charity stripe. The star forward has scored 18 or more in three of his last four games.
Meanwhile, in the backcourt, the Panthers have Kevin Ware scoring over a dozen per game, and is joined by Williams who enters off a strong performance in his last game.
HOW THE GEORGIA SOUTHERN EAGLES CAN COVER THE SPREAD
The Eagles already covered the spread against the Panthers this season, keeping their first matchup of the year within three points despite an 11-point closing spread.
While the Eagles have lost two of their last three games both SU and ATS, they’ve managed to cover the spread in nine of their last 12 games. On the other side of the court, the Panthers have been horrible ATS in failing to cover 11 straight games. They’re just 6-16-1 ATS overall and 3-8 ATS when on the road.
Defensively, Georgia Southern is lacking, but as evidenced from their last meeting with the Panthers, Georgia State’s offense isn’t good enough to take full advantage.
On offense, the Eagles are superior to the Panthers. They’re shooting percentage from the floor is rather low, but they’re outrebounding the Panthers by 6.1 RPG. In terms of individual production, the team has three players with at least 11.6 PPG, all guards, giving the Eagles a clear edge on the perimeter.
If Georgia Southern is to cover the spread—or even win SU—it’ll need to dominate the outside and exhibit strong ball handling skills. They’ve got the athletic advantage over the Panthers. They’ve also got the trends in their favor.
Of course, having someone like Tookie Brown on the roster who averages 18 PPG doesn’t hurt either.
ANALYSIS AND PREDICTION
Look for another low scoring affair between these two teams from the Peach State.
Neither offense is strong enough to truly dominate the other team and run away with this game, but the Eagles have the better athletes and the positive trends, so I’m backing them.
After 10 straight pointspread defeats, Georgia State finally managed a push, but that’s not enough to have me encouraged about them as a team to bet on moving forward. They’ve broken 70 points just once in their last 12 games—and that was in overtime.
Sure, the Eagles aren’t great either, but they did cover the last time these teams met and with home court on their side, they should be able to record a SU victory this time around, too.
Georgia Southern 67, Georgia State 61
Access live betting lines from your mobile device or tablet at BookMaker Sportsbook! You can wager on sporting events as they unfold on television with BookMaker’s live betting platform.
Real-time spreads, totals, props and moneyline odds are all available by clicking here so start betting with BookMaker today! The Georgia State Panthers and Georgia Southern Eagles square off on Tuesday, February 23, 2016, at 6 p.m. ET at the W.S. Hanner Fieldhouse. You can watch the game live on ESPN2.
