College Basketball Betting -- Stanford Seeks Payback in Late Pac-12 Tilt

  • In Charles Jay
  • Wed, Feb 13th, 2019 10:40:57 am
  • By Charles Jay - Exclusive to OSGA


The Stanford Cardinal are looking for a little revenge as they play the Trojans of USC in Palo Alto in Wednesday night Pac 12 Conference action.

Neither the Stanford Cardinal nor the USC Trojans are having banner seasons right now, but they still have some time to establish their bona fides for one of the post-season tournaments. It would follow that their Wednesday night encounter would carry some importance along those lines. And there are consequences for the loser, since being under the .500 mark at season's end is a very real possibility.

This Pac-12 action gets underway at 11 PM ET on ESPNU, and remember that BetAnySports customers can watch it and place wagers at the same time, as they access what is available through Live Betting Ultra.

The previous meeting between the teams was held on January 6, with USC coming away with a 77-66 win at the Galen Center. It was a great night for Nick Rakocevic, who had 23 points and ten rebounds, and he was joined by Bennie Boatwright with 22. Stanford lost the rebounding battle and labored through 15 turnovers.

USC (13-11 SU, 11-13 ATS) has lost its last two games at home, and that included a 69-65 defeat to Colorado, where Boatwright had 24 points. Rakocevic has had steady numbers for the Men of Troy, with 15.6 ppg and 9.7 rpg. And so it is clear that those two are the people the Cardinal have to concern themselves with the most.

In the college basketball betting odds posted on this game by the folks at BetAnySports, the "Tree" is favored:

Stanford Cardinal -2
USC Trojans +2

Over 146 points -110
Under 146 points -110

One thing you can rest assured of is that neither of these teams is going to rely very heavily on shooting three-pointers. Stanford (12-11 SU, 10-11-2 ATS) takes just 36.7% of its shots from downtown, while USC's percentage is even lower (33.9%). So it would make sense that each team's ability to play defense inside the arc is going to be a factor.

In that regard, we might declare it "advantage Stanford," since they yield about the same results as USC (slightly above 47%), but the Trojans have been a weaker team when it comes to accuracy on two-pointers, as they are right at the national average. In other words, they are "just average."

And Stanford has a lot of practice with all of this, as their defensive game plan funnels teams inside the circle. Only 26.3% of the shots their opponents take come from beyond the three-point arc, and that is the absolute lowest percentage in the nation.

This is a young Stanford team (just 0.93 years per man) that can sometimes lose focus, so you have to closely examine these situations where they get back into friendly territory. Undoubtedly they are chomping at the bit to get back out there, as they were embarrassed last time out against Oregon, missing their first 13 field goal attempts and shooting just 27% overall in a 69-46 loss.

One of the youngsters who is making more contributions as the season progresses is guard Bryce "Die Hard" Willis (okay, we took a little editorial license on the nickname), a freshman who scored in double figures in just two of his first 16 games, but has now averaged 11 ppg over his last six. And one weapon who could really come in handy here is seven-footer Josh Sharma, who makes his minutes count, as he is first in the Pac-12 in Effective Field Goal Percentage and True Shooting Percentage, not to mention 28th in the nation in Offensive Rebounding Percentage. He had a dozen offensive boards against Long Beach State on December 29, which is kind of amazing, and he has pulled down 15 offensive rebounds in his last five games.

Revenge might work here, especially since USC has not experienced a whole lot of success traveling in this conference (1-5 ATS in road games). So we'll lay the short number with the Cardinal.

BetAnySports is your primary destination for the best in college basketball betting action, seven days a week, and that's because they not only have reduced juice, which gives you more value in the numbers, but they also offer real-time wagering through Live Betting Ultra.. ....... You can open your account with a deposit using your Visa card, person-to-person transfers (like Western Union) or the virtual currency of Bitcoin, which is fast and easy with their automated system, and NEVER incurs a transaction fee!

(The preceding information has been furnished for news matter only)


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