West Coast foes will collide when the Portland Pilots (8-10) face the San Diego Toreros (5-10) at Earle A. Chiles Center. Action begins at 10:00 pm ET on Thursday, Jan. 14 and can be seen on RT, EFC and ES3.
The Pilots are hoping to rebound after their 85-74 loss to Gonzaga in their last matchup. Alec Wintering was the team’s leading scorer with 27 points. The Toreros, meanwhile, are feeling some disappointment after their 65-53 loss against Santa Clara in their last game. Brett Bailey had a game-high 22 points.
Wintering has taken his game to another level over the last five games for the Pilots. During that stretch, he has averaged 23.2 points, 2.8 rebounds, 5.0 assists, 1.2 steals, and 1.6 three-pointers.
It will be a showdown of conflicting tempos, as the up-and-down Pilots (ranked 32nd in the nation in possessions per game) will look to push the slow-paced Toreros (336th in possessions per game).
Portland is an eight-point favorite against San Diego and the Over/Under (O/U) for this game is sitting at 143 points. The Pilots have gone 8-10 Straight Up (SU) and 7-8 Against The Spread (ATS).
In the other locker room, the Toreros have records of 6-8 ATS and 5-10 SU.
These conference foes meet for what will be their first head-to-head battle of the season. San Diego won the last game in the matchup, bumping its SU record over their most recent meetings to 6-4. Furthermore, San Diego holds the advantage ATS with a record of 6-4. Neither team held the edge in field goals, rebounds, or three-pointers in a single game during this span.
Predictions: SU Winner – Por, ATS Winner – Por, O/U – Over
Notes
The total has gone OVER in 4 of Portland’s last 5 games.
Portland is 4-1 SU in its last 5 games at home.
Portland is 2-6 SU in its last 8 games when playing San Diego.
The total has gone OVER in 14 of Portland’s last 21 games when playing San Diego.
Portland is 1-4 ATS in its last 5 games when playing at home against San Diego.
Winless against their conference, the San Diego Toreros are 0-4 SU against their rivals, while Portland sits at 2-3 SU against its foes.
Portland has an average field goal percentage of 43.1%. San Diego is a subpar 1-10 when opponents have a similar or higher field goal percentage.
The Portland Pilots and the San Diego Toreros both rank higher in average effective field goal percentage when compared to their field goal percentages. Portland is 223rd and 156th in the nation for FG% and eFG% respectively, while San Diego is 343rd and 339th in these categories.
San Diego, the 98th-ranked team in blocked shots, registers an average of 4.2 per game. Portland does worse, ranked 105th with 4.1.
Portland records 7.7 steals per game. San Diego is 2-3 when giving up at least 7 steals.
