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A couple of weeks ago here at Mybookie, we looked at potential NCAA Tournament sleepers. No. 22 Saint Louis is one of them. The Billikens, though, might be on upset alert on Friday in Atlantic 10 action at a good Richmond side. It could be a pick’em on the NCAAB odds.

How to Bet Saint Louis at Richmond NCAA Basketball Odds & TV Info

When: Friday, 6:30 PM ET
Where: Robins Center
TV: ESPN2
Stream: ESPN app
Radio:com
Opening NCAAB Lines: TBA (could be a pick’em)

Last Meeting

The schools met once last year and Saint Louis won 74-58 at Richmond. Jordan Goodwin (still at SLU) scored 26 points and grabbed nine rebounds. Goodwin had seven points in a 21-2 run that put the Billikens 58-45. The Spiders had taken a 43-37 lead to break away from a 31-31 tie at the half. SLU went 14 of 21 from the field and 14 of 18 from the foul line in the second half.

Why Bet on Saint Louis? | 2021 NCAA Basketball Expert Analysis

The Billikens (7-2) returned from more than a month off due to COVID and were upset on Tuesday at home by Dayton 76-71. Saint Louis was playing its first game since Dec. 23 as the program suspended team activities due to a COVID-19 outbreak just before the team’s first scheduled conference game Dec. 30.

SLU hit just three of 13 shots from 3-point range despite converting 51% of its field goal attempts. The Billikens also made just 10 of 17 free throws.

“I don’t want to make excuses,” Billikens coach Travis Ford said. “If they’re going to tell you to play and we’ve got to go play, then you’ve got to respond. You’ve got to figure it out. Nobody is feeling sorry for us.”

Javonte Perkins scored 14 of his 20 points in the second half to lead a Saint Louis comeback, it came up short. Hasahn French, who was 6-of-8 from the field, matched his season high of 16 points. Jordan Goodwin registered his 31st career double-double with 11 points and a game-high 11 rebounds, and Yuri Collins recorded a game- and season-high 11 assists. The Billikens, who lead the A-10 in field goal percentage, connected on 52 percent (29-of-56) from the floor.

Goodwin is one of 10 candidates for the 2021 Jerry West Award. Sponsored by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, the award goes to the nation’s top shooting guard. The original watch list released earlier this year was trimmed to 10 players.

Goodwin is enjoying a monster season thus far. He is averaging 16.9 ppg and an Atlantic 10 Conference-leading 11.1 rpg. Additionally, he is dishing out 3.8 assists per game and posts 2.1 steals per game. Goodwin has registered a points/rebounds double-double in all but one game this season, and he has 30 for his career. He is the Billikens’ all-time steals leader, is a 1,000-point scorer, and is in the top five on SLU’s all-time rebounds list.

Why Bet on Richmond? | 2021 NCAA Basketball Expert Analysis

The Spiders (10-4) trounced a bad Saint Joseph’s team 79-56 on Tuesday. Tyler Burton’s career-high 25 points and a first-half barrage of three-pointers led Richmond to the easy win. Burton made 10 his 13 shots from the field, including three of Richmond’s eight three-pointers before halftime.

Saint Joseph’s opened the game in a different type of defense than what Richmond is used to seeing, with the Hawks switching off certain Spiders players and staying man-to-man on others. It didn’t work as Richmond made four of its first five shots from three-point range and opened a 28-15 lead by the seven-minute mark of the opening half. Matt Grace gave the Spiders an early lift off the bench, hitting a pair of three-pointers in the first half en route to a career-high 10 points in the game.

The 23-point win was Richmond’s largest since beating Massachusetts 95-71 on February 29, 2020, despite shooting just 1-12 from three-point range in the second half. The Spiders made 15 of their 18 shots from inside the three-point arc after halftime.

Burton added five rebounds, three steals, and two blocks to go with his 25 points. Blake Francis scored 18 with three assists and two steals. Jacob Gilyard registered seven of Richmond’s season-high 23 assists. The Spiders improved to 4-0 when coming off a loss this season and have won four straight road games.

Gilyard has 327 career steals, 58 shy of matching the Division I career record held by John Linehan (Providence). At his current rate this season (3.92 per game), he would need to play 15 more games to catch Linehan.

Richmond has won at least 10 games for a 14th straight season, the second-longest streak in school history behind 16 straight 10-win seasons from 1979-94.

The Spiders were picked to win the Atlantic 10 in the conference’s preseason poll, receiving 19 of the 28 first-place votes from a panel of the league’s head coaches and media members. It is the first time Richmond has been picked to win the A-10 since joining the conference in 2001.