The Indiana State Sycamores and the USC Upstate Spartans meet in a CBI Tournament First Round matchup from the Ocean Center in college basketball action on Saturday.
Indiana State Sycamores Team Preview
The Indiana State Sycamores come into the CBI tournament as the top seed in the field after going 22-12 overall, including a 13-7 mark in MVC conference play to finish as the 5-seed. The Sycamores took out Evansville and Belmont before falling by just one point to Bradley in the conference tournament semifinals. Courvoisier McCauley led the Sycamores in scoring and rebounding with 15.7 PPG and 5.6 RPG while Cooper Neese had 11.6 PPG with 4.3 RPG. Cameron Henry had 10.7 PPG with a team-high 3.8 APG to lead the Sycamores in assists while Robbie Avila added 10.6 PPG to round out the scoring in double figures for Indiana State up to this point in the season. As a team, Indiana State is averaging 79.4 PPG on 48.2% shooting from the field, 35.4% from three and 77% from the foul line this season.
USC Upstate Spartans Team Preview
The USC Upstate Spartans are the 16-seed in the field after going 16-15 overall, including a 10-8 mark in Big South conference play. As the 4-seed, the Spartans beat Gardner-Webb before falling to UNC-Asheville in the conference tournament semifinals. Jordan Gainey leads the Spartans in scoring with 15.1 PPG while Trae Broadnax has 11.1 PPG with a team-high 4.3 RPG and 3.1 APG to lead the Spartans in rebounding and assists this season. Justin Bailey has 10.7 PPG to cap off the trio of double-digit scorers for USC Upstate up to this point in the year. As a team, USC Upstate is averaging 68.9 PPG on 45.9% shooting from the field, 34.2% from three and 65.6% from the foul line this season.
Trends
USC Upstate is 3-0-1 ATS in their last 4 games overall and 8-0 ATS in their last 8 games against a team with a winning record while the over is 17-6 in their last 23 games following an ATS win. Indiana State is 16-5 ATS in their last 21 games overall and 6-1 ATS in their last 7 games against a team with a winning record while the over is 5-1 in their last 6 games overall.
Pick
I’m backing the Sycamores here. I just don’t like the matchup here as the Spartans didn’t play a ton of tough opposition in the Big South this season, at least not to the level of what Indiana State is bringing to the table in this matchup. I think that the Sycamores take care of business and put this one away early, so I’ll side with Indiana State laying the points.