The Utah Valley Wolverines and Colorado Buffaloes meet Sunday in the college basketball NIT Second Round at the CU Events Center. Let’s preview this game and give out a pick and prediction.
The Utah Valley Wolverines are averaging 76.7 points on 45.9 percent shooting and allowing 67.6 points on 38.7 percent shooting. Le’Tre Darthard is averaging 14 points and 1.5 assists, while Justin Harmon is averaging 13.7 points and 3.6 rebounds. Trey Woodbury is the third double-digit scorer and Aziz Bandaogo is grabbing 10.2 rebounds. The Utah Valley Wolverines are shooting 32.3 percent from beyond the arc and 74.5 percent from the free throw line. The Utah Valley Wolverines are allowing 31 percent shooting from deep and are grabbing 37.6 rebounds per game.
The Colorado Buffaloes are averaging 69.9 points on 43.2 percent shooting and allowing 66.3 points on 42.1 percent shooting. Tristan da Silva is averaging 16 points and 4.8 rebounds, while KJ Simpson is averaging 15.9 points and 3.8 assists. J’Vonne Hadley is grabbing 5.9 rebounds and Julian Hammond III is grabbing 2.1 rebounds. The Colorado Buffaloes are shooting 31.6 percent from beyond the arc and 69.1 percent from the free throw line. The Colorado Buffaloes are allowing 32.1 percent shooting from deep and are grabbing 33.6 rebounds per game.
The Wolverines are 11-2 ATS in their last 13 road games and 21-6 ATS in their last 27 games overall. The Buffaloes are 2-5 ATS in their last 7 Sunday games. The under is 9-3-1 in Wolverines last 13 overall. The under is 13-6 in Buffaloes last 19 overall.
The Colorado Buffaloes are going to be favored at home for obvious reasons, but Utah Valley and the points are hard to turn down. Utah Valley has lost just 4 games since December 3, has wins over Oregon and BYU, while taking Wake Forest to overtime and waxing New Mexico in the first round. Utah Valley loses as underdogs by an average of 1.1 points and is one of the best defensive teams in the country. Give me the points.