The Columbia Lions will travel to Welsh-Ryan Arena to play the Northwestern Wildcats. Action begins at 8:00 pm ET on Friday, Nov. 20 and can be seen on ES3.
The Wildcats come into this game on a high note after beating Fairfield 79-72 on Wednesday. Bryant McIntosh led all scorers on the team with 20 points on 8-for-13 shooting.
Northwestern is a six-point favorite in this game and the Over/Under (O/U) is 137 points. The Wildcats are still winless Against The Spread (0-1 ATS), but have managed a 2-0 Straight Up (SU) record to start the season. Northwestern is one of the most disciplined teams in the nation with an assist-to-turnover ratio of 2.69.
On the other side, the Lions haven’t been a good bet ATS so far with a record of 0-1 to go along with a 1-1 SU record. The Lions have controlled the offensive glass with an average of 19.0 offensive rebounds per game, fifth in the country.
This game will be the first meeting for Northwestern and Columbia in recent seasons.
Predictions: SU Winner – Colum, ATS Winner – Colum, O/U – Over
Notes
Northwestern is 7-3 SU in its last 10 games.
The Columbia Lions average 89.0 points per game, ranking 43rd in the nation. The Northwestern Wildcats rank 90th in points allowed with 64.5.
Ranked 31st, the Columbia Lions have an offensive rating of 123.8. The Northwestern Wildcats rank 139th with a defensive rating of just 95.5.
The Northwestern Wildcats average a field goal percentage of 44.8% this season. The Columbia Lions are a winless 0-1 when opponents have a FG% of 44.8% or greater.
The Northwestern Wildcats and the Columbia Lions both rank higher in average effective field goal percentage when compared to their field goal percentages. Northwestern is 167th and 148th in the nation for FG% and eFG% respectively, while Columbia is 99th and 68th in these categories.
Northwestern and Columbia are tied at 59th in assists, registering 17.5 per game.
Columbia, the 60th-ranked team in blocked shots, registers an average of 5.5 per game. Northwestern does worse, ranked 173rd with 3.5.
The Northwestern Wildcats are among the worst defensive rebounding teams (ranked 154th), while the Columbia Lions are one of the country’s top offensive rebounding teams (ranked 174th).
Northwestern has forced an average turnover percentage of 19.3% this season. Columbia is a winless 0-1 SU when its TO% is 19.3% or higher.
