The East Carolina Pirates and the Memphis Tigers meet in college basketball action from the FedexForum on Saturday afternoon.
The East Carolina Pirates will look to rebound from a 64-61 loss to UCF in their last game. Javon Small leads the Pirates in scoring and assists with 15.7 PPG and 5.7 APG while Brandon Johnson has 13.1 PPG along with a team-high 9.3 RPG to lead the Pirates on the glass up to this point in the year. RJ Felton also has 11.9 PPG to cap off the trio of double-digit scorers for East Carolina up to this point in the year. As a team, East Carolina is averaging 71.2 points per game on 41.5% shooting from the field, 32.3% from three point range and 67.3% from the foul line this season.
The Memphis Tigers will be out to bounce back from a 96-89 loss to Tulane in their last game. Kendric Davis leads the Tigers in scoring and assists, logging 20.4 PPG and 6.1 APG while DeAndre Williams has 15.5 PPG and a team-high 7.5 RPG to lead the Tigers in rebounding as the only other double-digit scorer for Memphis up to this point in the season. As a team, Memphis is averaging 78.7 PPG on 47% shooting from the field, 32.5% from three and 72% from the foul line this season.
East Carolina is 5-1 ATS in their last 6 games overall and 5-1 ATS in their last 6 Saturday games while the over is 5-1 in their last 6 games following a loss. Memphis is 0-4 ATS in their last 4 games overall and 6-1 ATS in their last 7 Saturday games while the over is 6-1 in their last 7 games overall.
I get the case for Memphis being favored at home in this one, but the thing about Memphis is that they’ve had a lot of issues with covering these big numbers. East Carolina is far from a world-beater, but they’ve been playing a lot of close games and right now, I don’t trust Memphis to cover a double-digit spread if I’m being honest. I think Memphis is going to get a lot of looks here, but East Carolina can be dangerous if taken lightly. Give me the points with East Carolina.