George Mason vs Richmond 12/31/22 College Basketball Picks, Predictions, Odds

The Richmond Spiders and the George Mason Patriots meet in college basketball action from the EagleBank Arena on Saturday afternoon.

The Richmond Spiders will look to build on their 83-65 win over Coppin State last time out. Tyler Burton leads the Spiders in scoring and rebounding with 19 PPG and 7.9 RPG while Jason Nelson has 10.3 PPG with a team-high 3.1 APG as the only other Spider to score in double figures while also leading Richmond in assists this season. As a team, Richmond is averaging 70.5 PPG on 44.8% shooting from the field, 36.9% from three and 70.9% from the foul line this season.

The George Mason Patriots will try to build on their own win over Coppin State by a final score of 91-53 last time out. Victor Bailey Jr. leads the Patriots in scoring with 13 PPG while Josh Oduro has 12.9 PPG with a team-high 6.6 RPG to lead the Patriots in rebounding this season. Devon Cooper has 11.2 PPG with 4.2 RPG to cap off the trio of double-digit scorers for George Mason so far this season. Ronald Polite III has 9 PPG with a team-high 4 APG to lead the Patriots in the assist department this season. As a team, George Mason is averaging 71.5 PPG on 46.7% shooting from the field, 37.6% from three and 53.5% from the foul line this season.

Richmond is 1-4 ATS in their last 5 road games and 8-3 ATS in their last 11 games following a win while the over is 4-1 in their last 5 games overall. George Mason is 5-1 ATS in their last 6 games overall and 4-1 ATS in their last 5 home games while the under is 5-2 in their last 7 games following an ATS win.

I get the case to be made for either side here, but I am leaning towards Richmond here. I think that George Mason’s the slightly better team and they are at home here so they do hold a bit of an edge, but the problem is that I think this is going to be a game where the last team holding the ball will have a shot to win it and when that’s the case, I want the team on my side that’s better from the free throw line, which the Spiders are. Richmond’s also slightly better defensively in open play, so I’ll side with the Spiders and the points here.