Dayton vs UIC College Basketball Picks, Odds, Predictions 11/9/2021

The UIC Flames and the Dayton Flyers meet in college basketball action from the UD Arena on Tuesday night.

The UIC Flames come into the 2021-22 season looking to shake off a frustrating 2020-21 campaign in which the Flames had everything thrown at them, injuries, COVID stoppages, but that didn’t stop UIC from going 8-4 in their first 12 games and 5-2 in conference play at that point, but it also didn’t stop them from losing 8 of 9 down the stretch, culminating in a Horizon League tournament first round loss to Youngstown State, ending their season. The Flames bring back a pair of double-digit scorers from last year’s team for their senior season in Maurice Commander (10.2 PPG & 2.3 APG) and Michael Diggins (10.8 PPG & 5.9 RPG) while bringing in another four transfers that averaged double-digits in scoring last year including Jalen Warren (12.3 PPG with Florida Gulf Coast), Kevin Johnson (11.3 PPG & 3.2 APG with Nicholls), Damaria Franklin (13.3 PPG & 5 RPG with Tennessee Tech) & Brandon Battle (11.6 PPG & 7.7 RPG with Alabama State). RayQuawndis Mitchell also returns for some scoring depth after logging 8.3 PPG last season. UIC is shaping up to be the most improved team in the Horizon League this season, but only time will tell if that actually comes to fruition.

The Dayton Flyers will hope to build on the small success in 2020-21, finishing the year at 13-8 including 9-7 in A-10 conference play, making the A-10 tournament as the #7 seed, defeating Rhode Island before a loss to VCU ended their hopes of making the Big Dance. The Flyers were invited to the NIT, where they were quickly bounced by Memphis in the first round. The Flyers will have to re-tool after having to say goodbye to Jalen Crutcher, Ibi Watson and Jordy Tshimanga, but Toumani Camara transferring in from Georgia after averaging 12.8 PPG and 7.7 RPG for the Bulldogs last year should help and Mustapha Amzil should help as well as he provided quite the lift for the Flyers in a small sample size, putting up 9.9 PPG and 5.6 RPG last season. DaRon Holmes will also hope to make an impact for Dayton this season as the highest-ranked recruit to ever commit to Dayton, lauded as a top-50 prospect with a high ceiling and tons of potential. The Flyers should improve over last year, but it’s still going to be an adjustment and it’ll be interesting to see how Dayton develops this season.

UIC is 1-8 ATS in their last 9 road games and 1-6 ATS in their last 7 games overall while the over is 5-1 in their last 6 Tuesday games. Dayton is 6-1 ATS in their last 7 home games and 1-6 ATS in their last 7 games overall while the over is 6-1 in their last 7 games as a home favorite.

I get why Dayton would be favored at home, but UIC is going to be a team I keep a close eye on this season. The Flames did a good job replacing the talent that was lost, and while Dayton brought pieces in as well, that’s a lot to lose from a team that wasn’t that much to write home about last year. I think this just boils down to not wanting to lay this number with Dayton, so I’ll back UIC with the points here.