Saint Peter’s vs Manhattan College Basketball Picks, Odds, Predictions 1/29/21

The Manhattan Jaspers and the Saint Peter’s Peacocks meet in college basketball MAAC-tion from the Yanitelli Center on Friday night.

The Manhattan Jaspers will look to build off of their 58-55 win over Niagara last time out to get to 5-4 on the year. Anthony Nelson leads the Jaspers in scoring and assists with 14.4 PPG and 2.8 APG while Elijah Buchanan has 11.8 PPG and 6 RPG as the only other Manhattan player to score in double figures up to this point in the season. Warren Williams also has 8.6 PPG with a team-high 7.1 RPG while Samir Stewart has 8.4 PPG and a team-high 2.8 APG as well this year. As a team, Manhattan is averaging 62.4 PPG on 36.4% shooting from the field, 26.8% from 3-point range and 70.2% from the foul line while allowing 64.6 PPG on 41.8% shooting from the field and 30.1% from 3-point range this season.

The Saint Peter’s Peacocks will look to rebound after a mind-blowing 47-40 loss to Siena last time out. KC Ndefo leads the Peacocks in scoring with 12.6 PPG along with 5.8 RPG while Darryl Banks III has 11.5 PPG with 4.2 RPG as the only other double-digit scorer for Saint Peter’s so far this season. Fousseyni Drame has 9.4 PPG with a team-high 7.2 RPG and Matthew Lee has a team-high 3.7 APG this season. As a team, Saint Peter’s is averaging 65.3 PPG on 40.9% shooting from the field, 35.3% from 3-point range and 68.5% from the foul line while giving up 65.2 PPG on 39.1% shooting from the field and 35.4% from 3-point range this season.

Manhattan is 2-7 ATS in their last 9 road games and 1-7 ATS in their last 8 games against a team with a winning record while the under is 4-1 in their last 5 games overall. Saint Peter’s is 9-3 ATS in their last 12 home games and 1-6-1 ATS in their last 8 games overall while the under is 8-3 in their last 11 games as a favorite. The favorite is 16-6 ATS in the last 22 meetings between these two teams.

I’ve been racking my brain trying to pick a side here, but then it hit me like a ton of bricks. There’s one thing that the MAAC is known for for the most part, and that’s low-scoring basketball games and these are two teams that despite their near even O/U records, play a bunch of lower-scoring games and I see this being no different. This is a low total, but I don’t think either side hits 60. Give me the under in this one.