Wake Forest @ East Carolina NCAA Basketball
The Wake Forest Demon Deacons (10-0 SU, 3-4 ATS) have yet to taste defeat this year after an off-season infusion of talent. On Monday night they will try to stay undefeated as they take on the East Carolina Pirates (8-2 SU, 4-1 ATS) in NCAA college basketball sports betting action that is scheduled to tip off at 7 PM ET at the Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum in Greenville, N.C.
BetUS Sportsbook online NCAAB Odds: WAKE FOREST -9
Here are some of the NCAA basketball sports betting trends as they relate to this matchup:
* WAKE has covered four of its last 13 games
* WAKE has lost its last five road games ATS
* WAKE has lost 17 of its last 22 road games SU
* WAKE has played five of its last six road games OVER the total
* ECU has won five of its last six games SU
* ECU has won eight of its last nine home games SU
Wake Forest got a real boost during recruiting season when it signed arguably three of the top 30 freshmen in the country. Two of those freshmen are contributing on a regular basis. Al-Farouq Aminu has played well down low, chalking up 8.7 rebounds per game and is third on the team in scoring. Tony Woods has been more than adequate as a backup big man, shooting 61% from the field and playing about 14 minutes per contest. Of course, those players join last year’s freshman standouts, guard Jeff Teague (19 ppg) and the versatile James Johnson (13.2 ppg, 7.5 rpg, 51% shooting) to give coach Dino Gaudio a team that could get better as the season progresses and make some noise come tournament time.
However, they first have to solve their ball-handling problem. Teague has the most assists (4.4 per game), but just as many turnovers. Ishmael Smith, probably the best pure passer in the backcourt, has been playing with a foot injury. As a team, Wake Forest is committing 18.1 turnovers a game, which is far too much. In fact, aside from Kentucky, there is no other team from a major conference with genuine tournament aspirations that has more.
By contrast, East Carolina is a team that has demonstrated an ability to take care of the ball (just 11.1 TO’s per game, which ranks them among the top ten in the country), and though there have been a couple of stumbles along the way (losses to George Mason and N.C. State) this team has generally defended well (40% FG allowed). Eric Maynor of VCU burned the Pirates for 35 points, but that 93-90 overtime win over the Rams, who will certainly be in line for an NCAA at-large berth, was no fluke. Please don’t get us wrong; ECU is not a national power, nor will it challenge for its own conference title (C-USA) but this is a team that can be very tough on its home floor, and the Deacons have got to get their stroke back on the road (dropping last five away games).
East Carolina lost some talent in the program by way of transfer before this season started, but James Legan has returned increased his scoring punch (14.5 ppg) and he can fill it up from the outside (3.4 three-pointers per game). Together with Sam Hinnant (17.5 ppg), he gives the Pirates a potentially explosive backcourt. Considering Wake Forest’s sloppiness, this is a good spot to take some points. We’ll do that with East Carolina, the nine-point underdog in the BetUS NCAA college basketball betting odds.
