Daily Sports Pick ’Em 1/12— College Basketball Play of the Day

Although this conference has burned me plenty of times in the past, my favorite college basketball play comes out of the Mid-American Conference as Toledo hosts Eastern Michigan.

Eastern Michigan comes into this contest 3–3 following a 71–59 victory at home against Akron January 9. The Eagles have been one of the most inconsistent teams in the MAC in recent years. The game before their victory against the Zips, EMU was blown out at home by 27 against Central Michigan.

On the other hand, Toledo has been scorching of late. The Rockets have rattled off seven consecutive victories thanks in large part to their scorching offense. Toledo currently ranks 32nd in the country in offensive efficiency, 28th in 3-point percentage (38.5%), and 23rd in free throw percentage (77.6%).

Spencer Littleson, Setric Millner Jr., and Marreon Jackson have led the way offensively for the Rockets. Littleson is shooting 43 for 92 from distance and is one of five players on the Rockets shooting greater than 35 percent from the 3-point line. Toledo also comes in averaging 83.3 points per game, which is first in the MAC. Freshman Ryan Rollins is also second on the team in points per game (14.4).

Eastern Michigan is a team still trying to find themselves this season. The biggest concerns for this team lie on the defensive end. The Eagles rank 340th in the country in opponents effective field goal percentage (60.5%), which does present a favorable matchup against a Toledo team that is shooting the lights out. While the Eagles do have four double-digit scorers per game, they also shoot just 27 percent from deep and rank just inside the top-200 in D1 in offensive rating. Ty Groce is the best all-around player on the Eagles by far, but the production outside of the senior forward has been inconsistent. Noah Morgan, Drew Lowder, Yeikson Montero and Bryce McBride have all poured in double figure socring games this season, but only McBride has an offensive rating above 90. McBride leads the team in scoring, but is also shooting just 3 for 16 from the 3-point line.

• Toledo is 6–0 ATS in their last six games
• Toledo is 4–1 ATS in their last five home games
• Eastern Michigan is 1–4 ATS in their last five road games
• Eastern Michigan is 2–7–1 ATS in their last 10 games overall.

This is a spot where I have to play the hot hand and go with the Rockets to cover. This is Eastern Michigan’s second road game of the year and the Eagles have not done enough to convince me they can hang around with Toledo. Toledo also defeated EMU 91–74 back in December in Ypsilanti, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see a similar result here.

PICK: Toledo -9.5