PFW (5-3) vs. Detroit (4-5)
December 5, 2024 1:00 pm EDT
The Line: Detroit +7.5; Over/Under: +148
(Get latest betting odds)
The Fort Wayne Mastodons and the Detroit Titans meet Thursday in college basketball action from Calihan Hall. Here’s a Detroit vs Fort Wayne prediction. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best Detroit vs Fort Wayne pick.
Fort Wayne Mastodons Betting Preview
The Mastodons have had a fairly uneven year so far, going 5-3 through eight games. The losses in that time have been versus UCF, Penn State, and Radford. Otherwise, it’s been wins over Bluffton, Bethune-Cookman, Southern Indiana, Drexel, and East Texas A&M.
In the East Texas A&M game on Saturday, the Mastodons held a 10-point lead by halftime. Fort Wayne cruised on another 10-point advantage from there toward a 77-57 win. Jalen Jackson paced the team with 16 points and six rebounds in the victory.
Detroit Titans Betting Preview
Over on the Titans’ side, they’ve managed wins over Cleary, Niagara, Ball State, and Eastern Michigan so far. Detroit has lost to Loyola, Toledo, Wake Forest, Tulsa, and Rhode Island otherwise for a 4-5 overall record.
Matched up against Eastern Michigan over the weekend, the Titans blew a 33-25 halftime edge and needed overtime to power out a 98-89 victory. Leading team scorer Orlando Lovejoy put up 18 points with seven assists and three steals in the win.
Why the Detroit Mercy Titans will win
- Purdue Fort Wayne has lost three of its last four road games.
- The home team has won three of the last four games between Purdue Fort Wayne and Detroit Mercy.
- The home team has won the first half in three of the last four games between Purdue Fort Wayne and Detroit Mercy.
Why the Purdue Fort Wayne Mastodons will win
- Detroit Mercy has lost each of its last 11 day games against the Horizon League.
- Purdue Fort Wayne has won five of its last six day games.
- Detroit Mercy has lost the first half in each of its last 20 day games against non-AP-ranked opponents.
Detroit vs Fort Wayne Prediction
I’ll probably stay with Fort Wayne. The Mastodons didn’t have trouble with a struggling East Texas A&M team in their last outing, hitting a nice 50.9 percent from the field with 32 rebounds and 20 points off 21 Lions turnovers. It was a nice way to come back after posting their lowest points total of the season (56) versus Radford. Fort Wayne has scored 68 or more points in all but that one game so far.
As for Detroit, they posted 14 turnovers in a sloppy overall game (28 total turnovers) versus Eastern Michigan this past weekend, but still shot a nice 54.8 percent from the field in a good victory. The Titans have been at 84 or more points in three of their four wins, so we could have a pretty big total here. All things considered I like Fort Wayne slightly more cover-wise, though.
