Valparaiso Crusaders vs Loyola Ramblers Prediction, 2/17/2021 College Basketball Pick, Tips and Odds

Game: Valparaiso Crusaders vs Loyola Ramblers

Date: Wednesday, February 17, 2021

Location: Joseph J. Gentile Arena in Chicago, IL

TV: ESPN+

Odds/Point Spread: Valparaiso (+20)

Joseph J. Gentile Arena is the venue where and the Loyola Ramblers (18-4) will play the Valparaiso Crusaders (8-14) on Wednesday. The spread on this matchup has Loyola as 20-point favorites. The total has been set at 126.5.

Valparaiso comes into this game with a win-loss mark of 8-14 on the campaign. They are losing possession via turnover 12.8 times per contest and as a team they commit 16.1 fouls on a nightly basis. As a team, Valparaiso is pulling in 32.3 rebounds per contest and has accounted for 285 dimes on the campaign, which is 71st in college basketball in terms of passing the ball. The Crusaders are shooting 29.8% on 3-pointers (151 of 506) and 74.1% from the free throw line. They average 66.9 points per contest (282nd in the country) while connecting on 42.1% from the field. On the defensive end, the Crusaders are forcing 14.1 turnovers every game and they draw 16.4 personal fouls. The Crusaders defense is allowing a FG percentage of 44.1% (567 of 1,285) and they concede 38.1 boards per contest as a unit. They are currently ranked 309th in Division 1 in giving up assists to their opponents with 293 surrendered for the campaign. They are relinquishing 33.5% on shots from beyond the arc and they are ranked 167th in college basketball in points per game allowed (69.7).

The Valparaiso Crusaders faced off with the UNI Panthers and ended up losing by a score of 74-60 in their last contest. Valparaiso ended the game with a 44.0% FG percentage (22 out of 50) and made 4 out of their 20 3-pointers. When they shot from the charity stripe, the Crusaders buried 12 of 13 shots for a rate of 92.3%. Regarding rebounding, they earned a total of 21 with 6 of them being of the offensive sort. They also dished out 10 assists in this contest in addition to earning 5 steals and 2 rejections. Regarding defense, Valparaiso let their opponent shoot 44.0% from the field on 22 of 50 shooting. UNI recorded 17 assists and had 13 steals for the contest. Moreover, the Panthers collected 28 rebounds (7 offensive, 21 defensive) and earned 2 blocks. UNI walked away from this one shooting 100.0% from the charity stripe by knocking down 10 of their 10 attempts. They also converted 8 out of their 17 shots from beyond the arc.

Ben Krikke is one player who was a major factor for the game. He ended up walking away with 12 points on 4 out of 8 shooting. He saw the court for 28 minutes and grabbed 5 boards. Krikke walked away from this one shooting 50.0% from the field and also recorded 2 dimes. An additional guy that was a factor in the game for the Crusaders was Sheldon Edwards. He snagged 2 rebounds and accounted for 2 dimes. He walked away from this one shooting 44.4% from the field for the contest by going 4-of-9 (11 points). When the final whistle was blown, Edwards played for 32 min.

Loyola has a win-loss mark of 18-4 on the year. When it comes to offensive execution, the Ramblers are connecting on 51.7% from the floor, which has them ranked 12th in Division 1. Loyola has totaled 1,610 points for the year (73.2 per contest) and they pull in 33.0 boards per game. They are dishing out assists 15.8 times per contest (48th in Division 1) and they are turning it over 12.0 times per game. The Ramblers have committed 14.8 fouls per game and they go 70.9% from the free throw line. The Ramblers defensively are ranked 1st in college basketball in points given up per game with 55.9. They are able to force 14.0 TO's per game and allow teams to shoot 39.8% from the floor (24th in college hoops). The Loyola defense allows 30.6% from downtown (119 of 389) and their opponents are knocking down 71.4% of their shots from the free throw line. They have surrendered 9.5 dimes and 27.9 boards per contest, which is ranked 7th and 2nd in college hoops.

The last time they took the court, the Loyola Ramblers took a loss by a final score of 51-50 when they played the Drake Bulldogs. The Ramblers pulled down 30 defensive boards and 11 offensive rebounds totaling 41 in this contest. They rejected 6 shots while recording 5 steals in this contest. The Bulldogs were called for 12 personal fouls in this contest which took the Ramblers to the charity stripe for a total of 10 attempts. They were able to knock down 6 of the free throw tries for a percentage of 60.0%. When talking about shooting from beyond the arc, Loyola made 4 of 19 attempts (21.1%). When the final whistle blew, the Ramblers ended up going 20 out of 57 from the floor which gave them a percentage of 35.1%. The Ramblers permitted the Bulldogs to make 19 out of their 57 attempts from the field which gave them a percentage of 33.3% in this matchup. They finished 15.8% from three-point range by shooting 3 out of 19 and finished the game at 10 of 14 from the free throw line (71.4%). When it comes to cleaning up the glass, Loyola allowed Drake to snag 25 in total (5 on the offensive glass).

Aher Uguak was important for the Ramblers for the contest. He made 5 out of 9 in the matchup for a rate of 55.6%, which gave him 11 points. Uguak collected 4 boards in his 38 mins and had 2 dimes in this contest. Another guy that was important for Loyola was Cameron Krutwig. He walked away with 11 points in 37 minutes on the court by way of 4 of 13 from the floor for this game. Krutwig ended up shooting 30.8% from the floor in addition to totaling 3 dimes and 14 total rebounds.

So what is Tonights Parlay prediction?

Parlay's Pundit's Pick: Take Loyola (-20) and over 126.5 points

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