Vanderbilt vs Belmont 3/15/22 College Basketball Picks, Predictions, Odds

The Belmont Bruins and the Vanderbilt Commodores meet in an NIT First Round matchup in college basketball action from the Memorial Gymnasium on Tuesday night.

The Belmont Bruins come into the NIT with an overall record of 25-7 including a 15-3 mark in OVC play, finishing the with #2 seed in the OVC tournament, but their stay was short-lived as the Bruins were bounced in their first game, in the semifinals by Morehead State. Ben Sheppard leads the Bruins in scoring with 16.3 PPG and Nick Muszynski has 15.9 PPG with 5.2 RPG and Will Richard has 11.8 PPG with 5.9 RPG to cap off the trio of double-digit scorers for Belmont so far this season. Grayson Murphy also has team-highs of 6.1 RPG and 5.9 APG to lead the Bruins in rebounding and assists as well this season. As a team, Belmont is averaging 79.4 PPG on 49.2% shooting from the field, 33.4% shooting from three and 74.1% from the foul line while allowing 68.7 PPG on 43% shooting from the field and 34.4% from three this season.

The Vanderbilt Commodores come into the tournament with an overall record of 17-16, including a 7-11 mark in SEC conference play. Vandy took out Georgia in the first round and Alabama in the second round before falling to Vanderbilt in the quarterfinals. Scotty Pippen Jr. leads the Commodores in scoring with 20.5 PPG with 3.6 RPG and a team-high 4.2 APG to also lead Vandy in assists while Jordan Wright has 11.7 PPG with a team-high 6.3 RPG to lead the Commodores on the glass as the other double-digit scorer for Vanderbilt so far this season. Quentin Millora-Brown also has 5.7 RPG of his own this season. As a team, Vanderbilt is averaging 69.5 PPG on 42.3% shooting from the field, 33.6% from three and 69.2% from the foul line while allowing 67.5 PPG on 42.5% shooting from the field and 30.4% from three this season.

Belmont is 1-8 ATS in their last 9 games overall and 0-5 ATS in their last 6 games against a team with a winning record while the under is 4-0 in their last 4 games as an underdog. Vanderbilt is 9-1 ATS in their last 10 games against a team with a winning record and 8-1 ATS in their last 9 games against a team with a winning percentage above .600 while the over is 8-1 in their last 9 games against a team with a winning percentage above .600.

I get the case for the Commodores in a sense, as it’s an SEC team against an OVC team, but it’s also an average SEC team against one of the better OVC teams and we’ve seen how dangerous Belmont can be offensively. The Bruins weren’t very good ATS down the stretch, but a lot of that was simply a case of laying too many points. We’re getting a top-25 offense and points and even on the road, I have to side with Belmont and the points here.