The North Dakota State Bison will be at Indiana Farmers Coliseum to play the IUPUI Jaguars in a Summit League matchup. The game gets underway at 1:00 pm ET on Sunday, Jan. 31 and will air on EFC and ES3.
The Jaguars won a close one over Western Illinois 69-67 on Friday. Matt O’Leary fueled the Jaguars, recording 20 points and 10 rebounds to notch his first double-double this season. The Bison, meanwhile, are coming off a 65-52 win over that same Western Illinois squad on Saturday. Kory Brown led the game in scoring with 15 points on 4-for-9 shooting.
Brown has been on a tear over the last five games for the Bison, averaging 15.8 points, 8.4 rebounds, 2.6 assists, 1.2 steals, and 1.0 three-pointer.
IUPUI is a small one-point underdog in this game and the Over/Under (O/U) is 135 points. The Jaguars look to improve upon their records of 10-13 Straight Up (SU) and 12-10 Against The Spread (ATS).
Across the court, the Bison haven’t fared well ATS, sitting at 7-11. However, they are 14-7 SU. The Bison are one of the top defensive teams in the nation, essentially shutting down opponents to the tune of 65.0 points allowed per game. Teams don’t seem to hit many three-pointers against the Bison, who are 12th in the country in terms of three-point field goals allowed at 108 this season. Don’t expect North Dakota State to give away the ball much on offense, where its 10.3 turnovers per game ranks 15th in the country.
IUPUI and North Dakota State will be facing off in their first head-to-head contest of the season. When they last met the Bison were winners, moving their SU record against IUPUI to 7-3 in their most recent head-to-head meetings. Additionally, North Dakota State leads the matchup ATS with a record of 5-4. North Dakota State held the edge in field goals, rebounds, and three-pointers three times in the last five game, while IUPUI wasn’t able to do so in that span.
Predictions: SU Winner – NDakSt, ATS Winner – NDakSt, O/U – Over
Notes
IUPUI scores an average of just 69.1 points per game (ranked 275th). North Dakota State ranks 39th in points allowed, giving up 65.0 points per game.
The North Dakota State Bison have a defensive rating of 96.5 (ranked 48th), while the IUPUI Jaguars have an offensive rating of 98.0 (ranked 297th).
The IUPUI Jaguars average a field goal percentage of 42.5% this season. The North Dakota State Bison have split their games this season (6-6) when opponents have a FG% of 42.5% or greater.
The IUPUI Jaguars and the North Dakota State Bison both rank higher in average field goal percentage when compared to their effective field goal percentages. IUPUI is 275th and 255th in the nation for eFG% and FG% respectively, while North Dakota State ranks 161st and 145th in these categories.
The IUPUI Jaguars average 7.0 steals per game. When allowing 7 or more steals, the North Dakota State Bison are an even 3-3 this season.
