.jpg "Mississippi-State-at-Cincinnati-(ESPN2)")
The Cincinnati Bearcats are looking to snap a losing skid that will certainly take them outside of the Top 25 the next time the rankings are released. Cincinnati won seven straight to start the season and routed the competition in the Cayman Islands Classic. However, the Bearcats failed to get a win when they played back-to-back games against ranked opponents when they fell to Xavier and Florida. Now, Cincy will try to get back to its winning ways when it welcomes the undefeated Mississippi State Bulldogs to town.
This war on the floor will go down Tuesday, December 12, 2017, at 7 p.m. ET at BB&T Arena in Highland Heights, Kentucky. The game will be televised live on ESPN2. We'll have NCAA basketball odds at BookMaker.eu available for this and every game on the college basketball Tuesday schedule.
Opening College Basketball Odds at BookMaker.eu
Mississippi State is undefeated this season, but has yet to play a quality opponent. The Bulldogs have been at least a 7.5-point favorite every time they have stepped on the court, but are just 1-3 ATS and nearly lost to both Dayton and Jacksonville State. This team has yet to play a true road game and gets the good fortune of traveling to Cincinnati in a year where the Bearcats are playing at Northern Kentucky University while the stadium is being renovated. Under is 3-1 in Bulldogs games this year.
The Bearcats have relied on their defense to win games during the Mick Cronin era. That defense really snuffed out opponents earlier in the season and helped the team get off to a 3-1 ATS start in lined games. Cincy has failed to cover each of its last three though and the losses to Xavier and Florida really sting. Under has been a great bet with a mark of 5-2 on the year.
Key Stats
Defense and rebounding are what Cronin harps and that is an extension of what we saw during the Bob Huggins era at Cincinnati. The Bearcats have some great big men that can D up and that has been the difference for this team.
Cincinnati has been solid in shutting down opponents and only Xavier had success against this defense. The Bearcats are holding foes to 36.8 percent from the floor and that average ranks in the top ten in the country this season. Additionally, Cincinnati is great on the glass. It has a rebounding margin of +14.3 and a rebound rate of 57 percent, both numbers that place the Bearcats with the nation’s elite.
Ken Pomeroy is high on the Bearcats in these departments too. His advanced metrics show that Cincinnati is one of the top five defensive teams in the country.
Matchup to Watch
The Bulldogs will need to be able to score in the paint against the Bearcats, because they are not a good perimeter shooting team. Mississippi State is hitting just 32.1 percent of its three-point attempts this year and only Aric Holman has proved he can consistently hit the trey.
Mississippi State is hitting well over 50 percent of its two-pointers, but it must be said that the Bulldogs have played one of the worst schedules in the country to date. Dayton was probably its best win so far and the Flyers are off to a 4-5 start.
Free College Basketball ATS Picks
Cincinnati should be a decent-sized favorite in this one, but there is one reason to be hesitant about backing the Bearcats. They are not a good free-throw shooting team and have not punished opponents when they have been at the charity stripe. The Bearcats are hitting just a shade over two-thirds of their free throws and the Bulldogs might just throw their bench at this team.
I think under will be the best bet when the total comes out. As for a side, I’d take the Bearcats as they will be hungry to bounce back after a rough week.
College Basketball Odds: Cincinnati 72, Mississippi State 59
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