It will be a battle between Mid-Eastern opponents when the Maryland Eastern Shore Hawks (6-16) welcome the Howard Bison (10-11) to William P Hytche Athletic Center. The game starts at 7:00 pm ET on Monday, Feb. 1 and will air on ESU and ES3.
The Hawks edged Coppin State 83-81 on Saturday. Dontae Caldwell was the game’s high scorer with 25 points on 10-for-12 shooting. The Bison are coming off a deflating 83-63 loss to Morgan State on Saturday. Marcel Boyd stood out for Howard, recording 17 points, nine rebounds, and three blocks.
The aggressive Howard offense seems poised to make an impact from the foul line. It ranks fifth in the nation at getting to the stripe (FTA rate of 48.8), while Maryland Eastern Shore is among the nation’s most foul-prone squads (giving up a 335th-ranked FTA rate of 47.0).
Maryland Eastern Shore is favored by a small one-point margin in its matchup against Howard. Oddsmakers have set the Over/Under (O/U) at 147 points. Even with a subpar Straight Up (SU) record of 6-16, the Hawks are 2-1 Against The Spread (ATS) in those games. Over their past 10 games, the Maryland Eastern Shore offense has been playing lights out, averaging 74.1 points per game, well over their season average of 66.1.
On the other side, the Bison are a terrible bet ATS with a winless record of 0-1 to go along with a 9-11 SU record. The Bison are getting to the foul line at a high rate. Their 442 free throws made ranks fifth in Division I.
Maryland Eastern Shore and Howard will be facing off in their first head-to-head clash of the season. When they last met the Hawks were winners, but Howard still leads the head-to-head record over their most recent games, 6-4 SU. Both Maryland Eastern Shore and Howard have led in three key areas (field goals, rebounds, and three-pointers) once over the last five matchups.
Predictions: SU Winner – Howard, ATS Winner – Howard, O/U – Over
Notes
In its last game, Howard lost by a margin of 20 points. Maryland Eastern Shore is 1-8 in games decided by a margin of 18 points or more. Howard has a 3-4 record in blowouts.
Maryland Eastern Shore has an average field goal percentage of 43.9%. Howard is a poor 2-5 when opponents have a similar or higher field goal percentage.
The Maryland Eastern Shore Hawks and the Howard Bison both rank higher in average field goal percentage when compared to their effective field goal percentages. Maryland Eastern Shore is 200th and 190th in the nation for eFG% and FG% respectively, while Howard ranks 328th and 310th in these categories.
Howard, the 98th-ranked team in rebounding, registers an average of 38.2 rebounds per game. Maryland Eastern Shore does worse, ranked 326th with 32.1.
The Howard Bison average 7.2 steals per game. When giving up 7 or more steals, the Maryland Eastern Shore Hawks have an abysmal record (2-9) this season.
