NCAA Football Free Pick – Wednesday, December 8, 2010
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Vanderbilt Commodores (7-1) at (15) Missouri Tigers (6-1)
Wednesday, December 8, 9:00PM EST on ESPN
Spread: Missouri -4.5
Over/Under: 153
Festus Ezeli had some pretty big shoes to fill when he stepped in as the Commodores replacement starter for the departing of 6-foot-11 Australian middleman A.J. Ogilvy.
The 6-11 junior has averaged better than 13 points and eight rebounds through the Commodores’ first eight games.
Now he will attempt to continue his upward trend when Vandy squares off against the No. 15 Missouri Tigers on Wednesday at the Mizzou Arena in Columbia, MO.
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Ogilvy led the charge the last time the teams met on December 2, 2009, going 11-for-12 at the free throw line and finishing with 25 points, as Vanderbilt held off Missouri 89-83.
Ezeli scored a career-high 24 points and added 10 rebounds as Vanderbilt beat cross-town rival Belmont 85-76 on Saturday, extending its win streak to five that began with a 72-65 win over eighth-ranked North Carolina.
Ezeli scored 17 points in the second half as the Commodores overcame a 35-32 halftime deficit, shooting 57 percent (12 of 21) over the final 20 minutes. Jeffery Taylor added 16 points and eight rebounds for Vandy while Lance Goulbourne had 15 points, and Brad Tinsley added 14.
Meanwhile, the Tigers who had been roaring through their schedule with five straight wins to start the 2010-11 campaign were tamed by Georgetown who gashed them for 111 points in their first loss, before rebounding with an 83-80 win over Oregon two nights later in a Big 12/Pac-10 Hardwood Series game.
Playing for the seventh time in 14 days, the Tigers narrowly escaped after blowing almost all of their 20-point halftime lead, as Marcus Denmon scored 19 points, leading four other players that finished in double digits in points.
One of those was junior guard Kim English who put up 12 after getting off to a slow start, averaging 8.0 points on 36.7 percent shooting through the first four games after leading the Tigers in scoring last season. The 6-6 junior went scoreless against LaSalle at the Cancun Classic before he caught fire coming off the bench and scoring a season-high 18 points in just 20 minutes in a victory over Arkansas-Pine Bluff.
That type of depth off the bench is what the Tigers will rely on, along with their fast tempo that tends to keep opponents flustered, when they meet up with a Vanderbilt team that is shooting a whopping 47 percent from the floor, and dominating the boards by nearly 11 rebounds a game.
Turnovers are what have nagged the Commodores, and despite their strong outside shooting will be the team’s demise in this one as the Tigers win a faced paced contest at home.
The odds makers have the Missouri Tigers as a -4.5 point favorite with an over/under of 153.
Free Pick: Mizzou 81, Vandy 73
Vanderbilt Commodores Betting Trends:
- Vanderbilt is 4-2 SU in its last 6 games on the road
Missouri Tigers Betting Trends:
- Missouri is 6-1 SU in its last 7 games
- Missouri is 17-4 SU in its last 21 games at home
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