When the Temple Owls took down Houston back in January, they rode that high to back-to-back wins, but after the Cougars blew them out on Feb. 5, they dropped their next two.
Today, the Owls are 14-12 (8-5) in fourth place in the AAC and host the Wichita State Shockers.
Wichita State is another mid-tier AAC team at 13-12 with a 6-7 conference record, a few spots behind the Owls. The Shockers beat SMU by two last time out and the Mustangs are clearly a bottom tier team in the conference.
Can they turn that win into a win-streak today and keep Temple’s struggles going? Let’s take a look at what Vegas thinks about this AAC matchup.
These teams don’t just have similar records, they’re very similar teams across the board. First of all, they play at a very similar place, the Shockers are 167th in possessions per game and the Owls are 160.
Wichita State allows 67.6 points a game and is 76th in defensive efficiency; Temple gives up 69.4 and is 127th. On offense, they aren’t just similar, they’re identical, both averaging exactly 69.6 points a game.
Both teams also rely on their backcourt pairing to carry them on the offensive end.
Jaykwon Walton is Wichita State’s leading scorer at 14.1 points a game and Craig Porter Jr. leads them in just about everything else, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks as a 6-foot-2 guard.
He also scores 12 points a game, and will be the best player on the court in this game. For Temple it’s Khalif Battle who is scoring 18.6 a night and Hysier Miller who leads them in assists and steals.
Of those two duos I’ll take Walton and Porter Jr. even though Battle is the best volume scorer.
With teams that are so evenly matched statistically, I’ll take the team with the best player on the floor who is getting points, even if they’re on the road.
WICH +4.5
-110
spread
Wichita State Shockers @ Temple Owls
02/16 6:00 PM
1-0-0 (100%) on WICH spread picks this season
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