SEC Tournament Betting Preview
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LSU Tigers vs. Vanderbilt Commodores
Wednesday, March 9, 2011 at 10:00 PM EST on ESPN3
Pointspread: Vanderbilt -13.5
Over/Under: OFF
The final game of round one of this year’s SEC Men’s Basketball Tournament pits the LSU Tigers against the Vanderbilt Commodores. Thursday night’s game from the Georgia Dome in Atlanta is scheduled to tip-off at 10 p.m. (ET) and it will be broadcast on ESPN3.com.
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LSU comes into this tournament as the sixth seed in the SEC-West Division after finishing the season with an overall record of 11-20 straight-up (11-14-1 against the spread) and a 3-13 SU record in conference play. The Tigers lost their final three games of the season including a 90-69 romp at the hands of Vanderbilt as an 8 ½-point home favorite on Feb.26.
The only way that LSU has a chance in this one will be if freshman guard’s Ralston Turner and Andre Stringer both play the game of their young college careers. Turner leads the Tigers with 12.8 points a game while Stringer is the second leading scorer with 11.1 points. Junior forward Storm Warren leads the team with 5.7 rebounds a game and nobody on the team is averaging more than two assists.
Shooting is not one of this team’s strong points as it is hitting just 40.3 percent of its shots from the field and 31.4 percent from three-point range. LSU has been dismal from the foul line; converting on just 66.2 percent of its attempts.
Vanderbilt’s win over the Tigers was its only victory in its final four regular season games. It lost to No.16 Kentucky 68-66 on March 1 as an eight-point road underdog and closed things out with an 86-76 loss to No.12 Florida as a 3 ½-point home favorite last Saturday. The Commodores finished the season 21-9 SU overall and 15-10-1 ATS. They were tied for third in the SEC-East with a record of 9-7 SU.
Sophomore guard John Jenkins’ 19.4 points a game leads a group of four Vandy players scoring in double-figures this season. Junior forward Jeffery Taylor is the second leading scorer with 14.5 points a game and has a team-high 5.3 assists while forward Lance Goulbourne, who is also a junior, leads the team in rebounds with 7.1 a game.
The Commodores are shooting 46.4 percent from the floor and averaging 77 points a game. They have also been effective from beyond arc; hitting 38.4 percent of their shots and are hitting 74.2 percent from the foul-line. Vanderbilt has a slight advantage under the boards against LSU, outrebounding the Tigers 37-35.
LSU is 2-2 ATS in its last four games on the road and 2-6 ATS in its last eight games overall. The total has stayed ‘under’ in its last three games.
Vanderbilt is 5-0 ATS in its last five road games and 5-2 ATS in its last seven games overall. The total has stayed ‘under’ in four of its last six games.
Head-to-head, the Commodores have won the last five games SU and are 4-1 ATS. The total has gone ‘over’ in the last four meetings.
Vanderbilt will be able to use this game as a brisk workout to help prepare for quarterfinal matchup with Mississippi State, easily covering the 13 ½ point spread.
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