Atlantic 10 action features the Loyola Chicago Ramblers (9-16, 3-10 A10) welcoming the Dayton Flyers (17-9, 9-4 A10) to the Windy City. The two conference opponents met just over a month ago, with the Flyers defending their home floor in an 85-81 overtime thriller.
Friday’s tipoff is at 7 p.m. EST inside the Joseph J. Gentile Arena in Chicago, Illinois. Dayton comes in as a seven-point road favorite with an over/under favorite of 131 points.
What to Know – Dayton Flyers
The Flyers have won four of their last five contests, entering the weekend with back-to-back conference victories. Dayton sits in a tie for second in the A10 standings, one game behind the leading VCU Rams.
Offensively, Dayton is 12th in the conference in scoring, pouring in 69.1 points per game. The Flyers shoot 46.9% from the field and 33.8% from the 3-point line. On defense, Dayton leads the conference surrendering only 61.2 ppg, 39.3% shooting from the floor, and 28.5% from deep.
DaRon Holmes II paces the Flyers offense averaging 17.5 ppg. The sophomore is fourth in the A10 in scoring thanks to 58.5% shooting from the field, which has him 33rd in the nation. Junior Toumani Camara can light up a scoreboard as well, adding 14.0 ppg for the Flyers offensive attack.
Dayton is 12-14 against the spread this season and 3-5 ATS away from home. The Flyers own a 3-6 record ATS over their previous nine games.
What to Know – Loyola Chicago Ramblers
Loyola is coming off just its third conference victory of the season in a year that hasn’t gone quite like it expected for the Ramblers. The 3-10 mark in the A10 has Loyola in the cellar of the conference standings.
Loyola’s offense ranks 13th in the 15-team league averaging 67.6 ppg while shooting 46.9% from the floor and 34.8% from beyond the arc. The Ramblers defense allows opponents to score 72.2 ppg, shoot 44.7% from the field and 34.1% from three.
The Ramblers have just one player ranked inside the top 25 in the conference in scoring, and that’s junior forward Philip Alston. Alston is 14th in the A10 averaging 14.4 ppg thanks to 47.5% shooting from the floor.
Braden Norris adds 11.4 ppg and has been the team’s leading scoring in two of the last three outings.
For the season, Loyola is 8-17 ATS with a 4-7 record ATS on their home floor. However, the Ramblers are 4-1 ATS over their last five contests.
The Pick is In
If you are tuning in for a shootout you’ve got the wrong game. These are two of the lowest-scoring teams in the conference but make up for that by being two of the most efficient shooting teams from the floor.
The low pace of play will help Loyola’s porous defense, and the home crowd will help a battered team keep this one close throughout.
The Pick: Loyola Chicago Ramblers +7
