Providence @ Massachusetts NCAA Basketball Lines Preview

Posted by Alex Murphy on Sunday,December 20, 2015 5:13, EDT in

Following their 74-67 win over the Bryant Bulldogs, the No. 15 Providence Friars will take on the lowly Rider Broncs over the weekend before they are tested by the Massachusetts Minutemen in an enticing NCAAB betting Monday Night basketball encounter. This December 21st game is set to kick-off at 7:00 PM ET on CBSSN at the William D. Mullins Center in Amherst, Massachusetts. Here is an early guide on how to bet on this Friars at Minutemen college basketball clash at MyBookie.ag online sportsbook.

Inside Look at the Friars @ Minutemen NCAA Basketball Lines Preview

Why Bet on the Friars

Since losing to the then third-ranked Michigan State, which was their first loss of the season, the Friars (10-1) have bounced back with four straight wins, the most recent one being their 7-point win over Bulldogs. The Friars were not in their best against the Bulldogs, but still managed to find a way of escaping with the win. Against the Minutemen, who are way much tougher and obvious upgrade to Bryant, Providence will need to find its best rhythm and its best of games.

Fortunately for Providence, the team has sufficient weapons like Ben Bentil (who is averaging a team-best 17.5 PPG), Kris Dunn (team-best 6.9 APG) and Drew Edwards (coming off a career-high performance of 17 points, including five three-pointers vs. Bryant). This should be able to motivate the Friars to seek a win, as they continue pushing for the Big East title.

Why Bet on the Minutemen

The Minutemen (6-4) finally ended their three-game losing skid with a hard-earned 103-95 OT win over New Orleans. The biggest determiner of that Wednesday night win over New Orleans was a strong shooting performance from UMass—50 % shooting on 31-of-62 shots—led by Trey Davis who poured a career-high 40 points and Donte Clark who had a career-high of 30 points (plus , eight rebounds, two assists and three steals).

With UMass’ offense looking to have found its early season hot scoring game (that saw them compile four 80-plus scoring games in their first five outings), and the defense also making a decent number of good plays (recorded 11 steals on Wednesday); there’s definitely a guarantee that the Minutemen will be a constant thorn in the flesh for Providence on Monday.

 

Expert NCAAB Picks & Final Score Prediction

Given the decent offensive nature of the two teams (UMass averaging 80.6 PPG scoring, Providence averaging 74.8 PPG scoring) and the importance of this game for both teams, this game is likely to deliver a high-scoring thriller that will total for over 160 points. An OVER total is therefore our pick here. Winning-wise, the Mountaineers will keep the game close, but Providence’s surging defense (66.7 PPG allowed per game) should be able to hold off Massachusetts to earn the visiting Friars the win. My Final Score Prediction:  Providence 84, UMass 77.