CUSA MBB Hoops Schedule, Jan 8-9, 2021

Jan 8

All times central

FAU at ODU 6pm on Stadium ESPN+
FIU at MTSU 6pm on ESPN+
NT at UTSA 6pm on ESPNU
USM at UAB 630pm on CUSA.tv
La Tech at WKU 7pm on CBS Sports Network on Facebook
Rice at UTEP 8pm on CUSA.tv

Charlotte at Marshall postponed

Jan 9

NT at UTSA 3pm on tadium ESPN+
USM at UAB 3pm on ESPN+
FIU at MTSU 4pm on ESPN+
FAU at ODU 4pm on ESPN+
La Tech at WKU 6pm CBS Sports Network on Facebook
Rice at UTEP 8pm on ESPN+

Charlotte at Marshall postponed

All spreads and predictions are for the first game only.

FAU at ODU

The Owls have not played the back-to-back conference series yet, as their game last week was cancelled. ODU has, and split vs FIU. FAU’s Jailyn Ingram is leading the Owls with 15.4 points per game but doing it a little inefficiently while Malik Curry for ODU is at 17.1 and doing it with an offensive rating of 103.7.

ODU is favored by ESPN’s Power Index at 69.4%. KenPom has ODU winning by about nine points.

FIU at MTSU

FIU took on ODU and split last week, while MTSU had the postponement. The Blue Raiders have not hooped since December 16 and that does not bode well for this game upcoming. Antonio Daye was awful in his second game vs ODU and that was a major part of the let-down. Whereas ODU basically played the same game in both, FIU shot horribly in the second.

ESPN’s Power Index has MTSU at 58.9% while KenPom thinks this is about a one-point game for FIU.

NT vs UTSA

This is another matchup for a team that had a postponement (NT) and one that did not (UTSA). The Roadrunners were swept in Houston and were blown out in game two last week. North Texas scheduled one Saturday game against a tough Loyola-Chicago team on the road. UTSA will have pride to motivate them and the home court — although that does not mean much in a pandemic. NT is the better team but that does not mean anything. It is a matchup of Javion Hamlet vs Jhivvan Jackson.

KenPom says NT wins this by about five, while ESPN has NT winning this at 83%.

USM vs UAB

Southern Miss split with UTEP and had some really nice moments. Tyler Stevenson had a nice game and so did freshman Jaron Pierre. UTEP did a great job of chasing LaDavius Draine off the line. He did not shoot one three pointer in two games. They take on a (likely) rusty UAB that has not played since December 19th. Quan Jackson is hurt, but the guard-centric offense still means Jalen Benjamin and Tavin Lovan should continue their stellar seasons thus far.

KenPom has UAB winning this by 15 and ESPN has UAB at nearly 90%.

WKU vs La Tech

The CUSA Power Rankings have WKU at number one and the Bulldogs at two for their performances thus far. WKU’s superior talent carried them to a win in the New Year’s Day win over Charlotte’s tough defense and nearly got them another win in game two. The Charlotte defense was tough and asked questions of the Tops that they had to dig deep to answer. You know Taveion Hollingsworth, Josh Anderson and Charles Bassey but newcomer Davyion McKnight was instrumental as a freshman in the series vs Charlotte. Tech basically had two games won over Marshall at home but surrendered a 17-point lead. Kalob Ledoux struggled for Tech and he needs to play better here, but Tech has a balanced attack from guys like JaColby Pemberton, Amorie Archibald (struggled a bit thus far, but is still a good player) and Kenneth Lofton 1 was bullying the interior of the Herd. I don’t know if he will be able to do the same against Bassey but maybe the Dawgs should let him try — something they did not do as the lead dwindled vs Marshall.

KenPom has WKU winning this one by about five, and WKU is at 70% according to ESPN.

Rice vs UTEP

UTEP lost against Southern Miss because of a lot of self-caused mistakes. Souley Boum was impressive and scored 36 over two games. His running mate Jamal Bieniemy was as well. They’ll be up against a team that won both outings last week in Rice. Travis Evee had 36 points in the first game while Quincy Olivari had 36 over two games but had the best dunk of the weekend. UTEP has a better defense but they cannot afford to miss so many shots at the rim, unchallenged, the way they did vs USM.

KenPom likes UTEP by six in this one, and ESPN has UTEP at 76%.