The Massachusetts Minutemen visit CFE Federal Credit Union Arena to take on the UCF Knights. Action starts at 7:00 pm ET on Tuesday, Dec. 8 and will air on ES3.
The Knights had no trouble getting past UIC 88-58 on Saturday. Chance McSpadden played a pivotal role with eight points, six assists, and five steals. The Minutemen, meanwhile, are feeling some disappointment after their 74-64 loss to Ole Miss on Saturday. Donte Clark had a good shooting night, leading the team with 24 points.
UCF is a slim one-point underdog in this game and the Over/Under (O/U) is sitting at 146 points. The Knights come into this game 3-3 Straight Up (SU), but 5-0 Against The Spread (ATS). The rebounding edge goes to the Knights in this matchup, who are one of the top rebounding teams in the nation with an average of 45.2 boards per game.
In the other locker room, Massachusetts has a SU record of 5-2 and an ATS record of 2-2. Teams seem to consistently miss three-point shots against the Minutemen, who are the 20th-best team in the country in terms of three-point field goal percentage allowed at .276.
These two will be facing off in their first head-to-head clash of the season. When they last met the Knights were winners, bumping their SU record to 2-0 over Massachusetts. Additionally, UCF leads the matchup ATS with a record of 2-0.
Predictions: SU Winner – UMass, ATS Winner – UMass, O/U – Over
Notes
Central Florida is 3-8 SU in its last 11 games.
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Central Florida’s last 6 games at home.
Ranked 81st, the Massachusetts Minutemen have an offensive rating of 112.2. The UCF Knights rank 115th with a defensive rating of just 97.8.
UCF has an average field goal percentage of 46.5%. Massachusetts is an even 1-1 when opponents have a similar or higher field goal percentage.
The UCF Knights average 20.0 three point attempts per game, and the Massachusetts Minutemen attempt 24.0 per game. When going for at least 20 three pointers in a game this season, both teams have winning records; UCF is 3-1 and Massachusetts is 5-1.
Massachusetts ranks 68th in the nation with an assist-to-turnover ratio of 1.30. UCF is ranked lower at 133rd with an A/TO of 1.15.
Ranked eighth in the nation, UCF averages 45.2 rebounds per game. Massachusetts ranks lower at 173rd with 37.4 RPG.
Massachusetts ranks 245th in offensive rebounds, while UCF ranks at sixth in defensive rebounds.
Massachusetts has forced an average turnover percentage of 17.5% this season. UCF is an even 2-2 when its TO% is 17.5% or higher.
