The No.1-seeded Old Dominion Monarchs (24-6) take on the No.2-seeded Stanford Cardinal (18-12) in the semifinals of the NIT tournament at Madison Square Garden. The game gets underway at 9:00 pm ET on Tuesday, Mar. 31 and will air on ESPN.
The Monarchs won a close one over Murray State 72-69 in the quarterfinals. Trey Freeman was the game’s high scorer with 25 points on 11-for-21 shooting. The Cardinal, meanwhile, are coming off a 78-75 win over Vanderbilt in the quarterfinals. Anthony Brown shot 9-for-15 and led in scoring with 26 points.
Freeman has been playing at a high level as of late for the Monarchs, averaging 23.2 points, 6.8 rebounds, 3.6 assists, 2.0 steals, and 1.4 three-pointers over the last five games.
Old Dominion is a small underdog, with Stanford favored by two. The Over/Under (O/U) is set at 139 points. The Monarchs enter the game with records of 27-7 Straight Up (SU) and 17-14 Against The Spread (ATS). Old Dominion has given up very few turnovers with only an average of 10.9 per game.
On the other side, Stanford has a SU record of 22-13 and an ATS record of 15-19-1. Stanford has been particularly bad ATS over its past 10 matchups, going 2-8. During the last 10 games, they averaged 66.2 PPG, below their 72.7 PPG season average. Stanford has not committed many turnovers, averaging only 10.8 per game.
Stanford won the last meeting this season between these two teams, evening up the two teams’ head-to-head record (0-0).
Predictions: SU Winner – ODU, ATS Winner – ODU, O/U – Under
Notes
Old Dominion is 9-1 SU in its last 10 games.
Old Dominion has allowed an average of 53.8 points per home game this season. Stanford averages 71.7 points per away game, ranking 29th in scoring.
Ranked eighth, the Old Dominion Monarchs have one of the top defenses in the country, giving up just 144.3 points per 100 possessions. The Stanford Cardinal rank 58th in offense, scoring 108.9 points in the same number of possessions.
The Stanford Cardinal average a field goal percentage of 43.5% this season. The Old Dominion Monarchs have split their games this season (5-5) when opponents have a FG% of 43.5% or greater.
The Old Dominion Monarchs rank higher based on their field goal percentage (160th) than their effective field goal percentage (185th). The Stanford Cardinal rank higher based on their effective field goal percentage (164th) than their field goal percentage (177th).
Old Dominion ranks 55th in the nation with an assist-to-turnover ratio of 1.23, while Stanford ranks 96th with an A/TO of 1.14.
Old Dominion ranks 52nd in offensive rebounding. When it comes to defensive rebounds, Stanford ranks 53rd.
Stanford makes an average of 5.4 steals per game. Old Dominion has an exceptional 13-2 record when it allows at least 5 steals.
