The Rhode Island Rams will be at Belk Arena to challenge the Davidson Wildcats in an Atlantic 10 matchup. Action starts at 6:00 pm ET on Tuesday, Feb. 23 and will air on CCS.
The Wildcats defeated Saint Joseph’s 99-93 on Saturday. Jack Gibbs led all scorers on the team with 35 points on 11-for-18 shooting. The Rams are coming off a 77-74 win over Duquesne on Saturday. Jarvis Garrett played well for Rhode Island, accumulating 17 points, eight assists, and four steals.
Despite being 16-9 Straight Up (SU), the Wildcats have struggled to cover the spread in most of their matchups, only managing a record of 8-15-1 Against The Spread (ATS). The Wildcats have seen a decline in scoring as of late, averaging 69.1 points during the last 10 games compared to their season average of 80.7 points per game. The Wildcats are a dangerously accurate shooting team from the line with a .758 free throw percentage, one of the highest marks in Division I. The Wildcats, sporting the 13th-best assist-to-turnover ratio in Division I (1.53), have proven themselves to be an extremely efficient offensive team. The Davidson defense has been on fire lately, allowing an average of 66.2 points per game, well under their season average of 78.9.
Over on the other bench, the Rams head into the game with records of 10-15 ATS and 15-12 SU. During the last 10 games, they averaged 80.2 PPG, above their 70.4 PPG season average. The Rams average 65.2 points allowed per game, but have damaged those numbers in the past 10 games, allowing 77.8 points per game during that span.
This is the first meeting of the season for Davidson and Rhode Island. The last time they played, Davidson came out on top, but the win was not enough to overtake Rhode Island in the head-to-head series. Its record is now 1-2 SU. The Rams also lead the matchup ATS with a record of 2-1.
Predictions: SU Winner – URI, ATS Winner – URI
Notes
“Davidson is 4-1 SU in its last 5 games “.
“Davidson is 2-3-1 ATS in its last 6 games at home”.
“Davidson is 7-1 SU in its last 8 games at home”.
Rhode Island is an even 7-7 SU against the conference, while Davidson sits at 8-6 SU.
Davidson averages 82.6 points per home game (ranked 38th). Rhode Island allows 72.1 points per away game (ranked 85th).
The Davidson Wildcats rank 47th for their offensive rating of 112.8. The Rhode Island Rams have a defensive rating of 99.8 (ranked 92nd).
Davidson has an average field goal percentage of 44.6%. Rhode Island is 4-6 when opponents have a similar or higher field goal percentage.
The Davidson Wildcats and the Rhode Island Rams both rank higher in average effective field goal percentage when compared to their field goal percentages. Davidson is 155th and 76th in the nation for FG% and eFG% respectively, while Rhode Island is 151st and 146th in these categories.
Davidson ranks 54th in assists, registering 15.6 per game. Rhode Island performs worse at 263rd with 12.1 assists per game.
Rhode Island, the 27th-ranked team in blocked shots, registers an average of 5.2 per game. Davidson does worse, ranked 256th with 2.8.
On average, Rhode Island forces a turnover rate of 19.6%. When Davidson turns over the ball at a similar or higher rate, the team has a winning 2-1 record.
