On Thursday night, the South Alabama Jaguars, the No. 8 seed in the Sun Belt tournament, took down App State, 68-61 and their reward is facing the No. 1 seed in the conference, Southern Miss. The Southern Miss Golden Eagles went 25-6 this season with a 14-4 mark in Sun Belt play. They had a bye to the quarterfinals.
Back on January 19, South Alabama, hung around with Southern Miss, but fell 76-72 on the road. Then on February 16th almost a month later, South Alabama rolled over Southern Miss, 85-54 at home. Let’s check out the odds for this matchup with a spot in the Sun Belt Semis on the line.
South Alabama vs. Southern Miss odds, spread and total
South Alabama vs. Southern Miss odds, spread and total
Despite the discrepancy in their seed, the Golden Eagles are barely favorites in this one. That could have to do with the three-point line. Neither team excels from deep, but South Alabama is excellent at defending the arc. Their opponents are shooting 29.3% from deep which is 10th in the nation defensively. That defense is against Southern Miss who hits at a 32.8% rate from deep. The Golden Eagles are also 226th in free-throw shooting, so they shouldn’t really be trusted down the stretch.
The Jaguars definitely have confidence that they can knock off the No. 1 seed after killing them in the latest meeting. In that one, Southern Miss shot 4/17 from three and 8-12 from the free throw line (66.7%).
South Alabama was one of the hottest teams in the Sun Belt down the stretch with a 6-1 record against the spread in their last seven games overall, so I’ll ride with the No. 8 against the No. 1. They’ll need their leading scorer, Isaiah Moore to have a great game. He had 20 points against App State on Thursday and 16 points with six assists in the last meeting of these teams.
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Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change
