UMass vs La Salle 2/19/22 College Basketball Picks, Predictions, Odds
La Salle Explorers (7-16) vs. UMass Minutemen (11-13)
February 19, 2022 12:00 pm EDT
The Line: UMass Minutemen -6 / La Salle Explorers +6; Over/Under: +155
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The La Salle Explorers and the UMass Minutemen meet in college basketball action from the Mullins Memorial Center on Saturday afternoon.
The La Salle Explorers will look to rebound from a 90-64 loss to Saint Louis last time out. Clifton Moore leads La Salle in scoring with 13.6 PPG along with 6.4 RPG while Josh Nickelberry has 12.1 PPG and Jack Clark has 11.4 PPG to cap off the trio of double-digit scorers for La Salle so far this season. Christian Ray has a team-high 7 RPG to lead the Explorers on the glass and Jhamir Brickus has a team-high 3.3 APG to lead La Salle in assists. As a team, La Salle is averaging 69 PPG on 41.3% shooting from the field, 32.5% from three and 69.9% from the foul line while allowing 73.7 PPG on 44.5% shooting from the field and 37.5% from three this season.
The UMass Minutemen will try to find some consistency after alternating wins and losses in each of their last nine games following an 83-71 loss to St. Bonaventure last time out. Noah Fernandes leads the Minutemen in scoring and assists with 16.4 PPG and 5.4 APG in addition to 3.4 RPG while C.J. Kelly and Rich Kelly each have 13+ PPG this season. Trent Buttrick has 11.5 PPG and 5.6 RPG to lead the Minutemen on the glass and round out the group of double-digit scorers for UMASS so far this season. T.J. Weeks Jr. also has 9.1 PPG with 4.6 RPG as well on the year. As a team, UMASS is averaging 75.5 PPG on 43% shooting from the field, 39.2% from three and 74.6% from the foul line while allowing 77.7 PPG on 48.6% shooting from the field and 36.5% from three this season.
I get the case to be made for La Salle here as the Minutemen haven’t been the most reliable team so far this season. However, the one thing that La Salle has done consistently is lose on the road and lose big at that. UMass is outscoring teams by 3.2 PPG at home while La Salle’s being outscored by 8 PPG on the road and La Salle’s lost their last two road games by a combined 40 points. I just see UMass being too much here, so give me the Minutemen.
