detroit titans (+4)
detroit titans (+160)
*both teams come in to this one streaking. illinois-chicago has won their last four; detroit has won 5 of their last 6.
*detroit won at home vs. uic 67-57 on december 30th.
before the season started, i thought illinois-chicago might have a shot to compete with milwaukee for the league title. after watching the conference start to play out, its becoming more apparant that uic is a good -- but not great -- team. they are relying on cedrick banks way too much. he's a big-time player but he's taken 220 shots this year. his next closest teammate (justin bowen) has taken 107 shots. suffice to say, their offense is banks and more banks. the problem is that for as good as he's been over his career, he's only shooting 36% from the floor this season.
uic is getting no production from their bench right now. against cleveland state last saturday, the starters scored every single one of their 74 points. the bench did not contribute a point. in the first meeting between these two teams, their bench scored a grand total of 3 points.
perry watson is not afraid to go deep into his bench for detroit. in the first meeting, ten players saw double-figure minutes, and thats pretty common for them. 9 or 10 guys see good minutes.
illinois-chicago has won four straight, but they are averaging just 25 pts in the 1st half of their last four games. theyre not starting well. thats not a good sign vs a detroit team that is physical and aggressive on defense. titans led 30-24 at halftime of the first meeting.
detroit held uic to 35% shooting from the floor in the first meeting. detroit also held uic to 39% and 37% from the floor in the two meetings last year.
these teams are almost dead even statistically. but detroit holds a commanding edge in this series and they have proven that they can win on the road in chicago. detroit is 17-6 vs. illinois-chicago and not only took the earlier meeting this year, but also swept the season series last year from an illinois-chicago team that was 24-7 and went to the ncaa tournament.
bottom line:
both teams are upper-tier horizon teams. both are playing good basketball. but detroit's winning streak has come vs much better teams, theyre deeper than uic, they get production from their bench, and they do not fear playing at the UIC Pavilion. i expect this to be a low scoring game that detroit will ultimately win. im not down on uic -- im sure i will be playing 'on' them in the coming weeks. but right now, detroit is doing everything better and the titans are surging. it should continue tonight.
detroit titans (+160)
*both teams come in to this one streaking. illinois-chicago has won their last four; detroit has won 5 of their last 6.
*detroit won at home vs. uic 67-57 on december 30th.
before the season started, i thought illinois-chicago might have a shot to compete with milwaukee for the league title. after watching the conference start to play out, its becoming more apparant that uic is a good -- but not great -- team. they are relying on cedrick banks way too much. he's a big-time player but he's taken 220 shots this year. his next closest teammate (justin bowen) has taken 107 shots. suffice to say, their offense is banks and more banks. the problem is that for as good as he's been over his career, he's only shooting 36% from the floor this season.
uic is getting no production from their bench right now. against cleveland state last saturday, the starters scored every single one of their 74 points. the bench did not contribute a point. in the first meeting between these two teams, their bench scored a grand total of 3 points.
perry watson is not afraid to go deep into his bench for detroit. in the first meeting, ten players saw double-figure minutes, and thats pretty common for them. 9 or 10 guys see good minutes.
illinois-chicago has won four straight, but they are averaging just 25 pts in the 1st half of their last four games. theyre not starting well. thats not a good sign vs a detroit team that is physical and aggressive on defense. titans led 30-24 at halftime of the first meeting.
detroit held uic to 35% shooting from the floor in the first meeting. detroit also held uic to 39% and 37% from the floor in the two meetings last year.
these teams are almost dead even statistically. but detroit holds a commanding edge in this series and they have proven that they can win on the road in chicago. detroit is 17-6 vs. illinois-chicago and not only took the earlier meeting this year, but also swept the season series last year from an illinois-chicago team that was 24-7 and went to the ncaa tournament.
bottom line:
both teams are upper-tier horizon teams. both are playing good basketball. but detroit's winning streak has come vs much better teams, theyre deeper than uic, they get production from their bench, and they do not fear playing at the UIC Pavilion. i expect this to be a low scoring game that detroit will ultimately win. im not down on uic -- im sure i will be playing 'on' them in the coming weeks. but right now, detroit is doing everything better and the titans are surging. it should continue tonight.
