Manhattan and
Marist square off at the McCann Center in Poughkeepsie, New York in the MAAC
National Game of the Week. Manhattan
is just 2-5 ATS in their last 7.
The Jaspers opened
as -8 point favorites with the total at 145.5 in the NCAA basketball odds.
Manhattan (12-7 SU, 13-4 ATS) is riding the longest active winning streak in the Metro Atlantic
Athletic Conference posting victories in its last three contests. The Jaspers
have won nine of their last 12 contests, a streak which began on December 2
with a 71-55 triumph at Rider.
In their last
outing, Manhattan routed Siena 72-53 as junior forward George Beamon scored a
career high 24 points. Kidani Brutus came off the bench with 13 points and
Michael Alvarado had a career-high nine assists in the win. Manhattan also forced 22 Siena turnovers in the game
Beamon has emerged
as a legitimate candidate for conference Player of the Year honors. He’s
averaging 17.1 points per game, fourth in the conference in scoring and is
second in the MAAC in free-throw percentage (83.9), third in 3-point percentage
(44.0), tied for eighth in steals and ninth in field-goal percentage.
Manhattan leads the
MAAC in free-throw shooting (73.4 percent) and is first in two key defensive
categories: field-goal shooting (39.9 percent) and 3-point percentage (32
percent). The Jaspers are second in
blocked shots (4.8 bpg), steals and rebounding margin (+3.4) statistics. In seven
conference games, the Jaspers stingy defense has held opponents to 60.3 points
per game.
Offensively,
Manhattan is averaging 69.3 points per game and is shooting 42.3 percent from
the field and 35.8 percent from beyond the arc.
Marist (7-11 SU, 5-6 ATS) is on a four game losing streak which began on January 6 with a 99-86
loss at Rider. The Red Foxes are coming off an 86-67 setback at Niagara on
Sunday. Devin Price led Marist with 20 points and is now averaging a team high
14.2 points per game. Freshman Chavaughn Lewis had 15 points against Niagara
and is averaging 12.8 points in 18 games coming off the bench. Adam Kemp at 6-10,
235 is the man in the middle for the Red Foxes and is averaging nearly 10
points and seven blocked shots per game.
Marist is fourth in
the conference averaging 71.0 points per game, but rank last in the MAAC
yielding 77.5 ppg.
Coaches
If the Jaspers have
a Louisville look about them, that’s because first year head coach Steve Masiello, a former assistant coach
under Rick Pitino, has borrowed significantly from his former boss. “I am literally duplicating everything I’ve
done with (Pitino) the last six years here. It’s a carbon copy with our
offenses, our defenses, our presses, our zones, our schemes, our conditioning
and our practices. Somebody said we’re a Triple-A version of Louisville, and
that’s pretty accurate.”
Chuck Martin is in
his fourth year as head coach of the Red Foxes and has a career record is
24-90. He came to Poughkeepsie after
having spent the 2006-08 seasons as an assistant coach at Memphis where the
Tigers reached the national championship game in the 2007-08 season and set a
single-season Division I record for most victories with 38.
Trends
Manhattan is 21-6-1
ATS in its last 28 games overall and is 18-7-1 vs. the number in its last 26
road games. The home team is 10-4 ATS in the last 14 series meetings.
The teams split
their two meetings last year with both games playing well below the closing
total. You might give the under some serious thought tonight.
Harvey’s
Take: In this conference, laying eight points on the road is tough but
Manhattan has the forward momentum and Marist is not a good team or program
right now. Take the Jaspers in your NCAA basketball picks and look for a double-digit victory tonight.
Good luck!