Atlantic 10 Friday Games: 11/29/19

[glabedz]

Massachusetts (+9) @ Rutgers: The Minutemen are in the midst of the difficult part of their schedule, and they're hoping to snap a 2-game losing streak on the road against the Scarlet Knights. Rebounding could be a major issue, as Rutgers is very solid on both the offensive and defensive glass, and UMass is not. The Minutemen have to hit 3s to have any sort of chance in this one. Carl Pierre and TJ Weeks need to come out of the gates scorching hot.

Davidson (-13) vs. Fairfield: The Wildcats look to reverse a disappointing start to the Orlando Invitational after losing to Marquette and failing to hit a three last night. No Luke Frampton means Davidson isn't going to be its normal self from long range, but Kellan Grady played very well off the dribble despite turning it over a lot. Davidson hasn't had any issues with non-P5 schools this year, so they should get past Fairfield, but if there's any team in the A-10 that really needs some momentum, it's Davidson.

VCU (+3) vs. Purdue: The field of the Emerald Coast Classic is turning out to be really strong; the Rams are slight underdogs to a Purdue team just outside the top 25, and the other game tonight features a ranked Tennessee club who opened as underdogs to Florida St. Purdue hasn't been rock-solid this year, as the Boilermakers dropped one at home to Texas and haven't picked up a top 200 win yet. However, Purdue has been stingy with the ball this year and doesn't turn it over often. Pair that against a VCU defense that lives on forced turnovers, and something has to give. I don't think this Purdue team is worthy of it's 9th place ranking in Kenpom currently...

Picks: Rutgers (-9), Fairfield (+13), VCU (+3)

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[glabedz]

Rutgers beats Massachusetts 82-57. Lots of room for improvement for the Minutemen after seeing their last few days. Some promising points (TJ Weeks' shooting, Sy Chatman played well today, East & Mitchell have been good as well), but also some major areas of concern (turnovers, rebounding, Carl Pierre really needs to find his shot as of late). Feeling like UMass should finish around 9th or 10th this year after what we've seen the last couple games.

 

[glabedz]

Can't believe Davidson almost blew that in the 2nd half... I'm afraid tomorrow's game against Temple won't be pretty. Hope the 'Cats prove me wrong.

 

[glabedz]

Unfortunately, that 1st half of basketball from VCU felt like the Rams should be up 5 or 6, but the Rams are down 6. The Rams can't keep shooting themselves in the foot with these unforced turnovers. It felt like the Rams were so quick to force every pass and every shot that Purdue didn't even need to play defense. Rams need to step it up on offense in the 2nd half. That was just a poor performance from a fundamentals perspective.