The Pacific Tigers and the Portland Pilots meet in college basketball action from the Chiles Center on Thursday night.
The Pacific Tigers will look to bounce back from a six-game losing skid after a 73-65 loss to San Diego last time out. Luke Avdalovic leads the Tigers in scoring with 11.6 PPG while Alphonso Anderson has 10.9 PPG with a team-high 6.2 RPG to lead the Tigers on the glass and to make up the pair of double-digit scorers for Pacific so far this season. Jeremian Bailey has 9.3 PPG with 5.3 RPG and Pierre Crockrell II also has a team-high 4.2 APG to lead the Tigers in the assist department this season. As a team, Pacific is averaging 65.6 PPG on 42.3% shooting from the field, 34.3% from three and 67% from the foul line while allowing 68.9 PPG on 44.5% shooting from the field and 38.5% from three this season.
The Portland Pilots will try to bounce back from back-to-back defeats after a 78-65 loss to BYU last time out. Chris Austin leads the Pilots in scoring with 14.5 PPG along with 5.3 RPG while Tyler Robertson’s got 14 PPG with a team-high 3.9 APG to lead the Pilots in the assist department this season. Moses Wood has 13.9 PPG with a team-high 6.3 RPG to lead Portland on the boards and Mike Meadows has 10.9 PPG with 3.7 RPG and 3.5 APG to cap off the group of double-digit scorers for Portland so far this season. As a team, Portland is averaging 73.2 PPG on 43% shooting from the field, 34.1% from three and 80.1% from the foul line while allowing 71.6 PPG on 41.8% shooting from the field and 33.1% from three this season.
Pacific is 0-8 ATS in their last 8 road games and 0-5 ATS in their last 5 games following a loss while the over is 7-1 in their last 8 games overall. Portland is 5-1 ATS in their last 6 games overall and 7-18-1 ATS in their last 26 games against a team with a losing record while the under is 4-0 in their last 4 games following an ATS win.
I get the case to be made for either side here but ultimately, I have to side with Portland here. I’m not siding with a Pacific team that’s not only 0-6 SU, but are also 0-6 ATS on the road this season. Portland hasn’t been great, but they play their best at home and only having to lay a bucket with the Pilots at home has to be the play here.