Some really big games are on the college basketball betting board for Wednesday January 6. It’s usually hard to pick a game to hone in on, but we love to try and support the mid-majors here at BangTheBook, so that’s what we’ll do with this spotlight preview.
That game is UNC Greensboro on the road at Wofford. There is some bad blood in this rivalry and these are two teams that go about their business in very different ways. Wofford is -2 with a total of 139 at BetOnline Sportsbook in this SoCon battle of powerhouse teams. This is a game that could have some big implications down the line in terms of conference tournament seeding.
Let’s take a look at this matchup and find a play for the game.
UNC Greensboro Spartans
A lot of teams feel pretty spiteful about how the 2019-20 college basketball season finished, but UNC Greensboro’s season was over several days before COVID-19 had a say. The Spartans lost three straight games to end the year, including a 10-point loss to underdog Chattanooga in the SoCon Tournament. Over the course of the season, Greensboro and Wofford, who did not reach the same heights that the Terriers did in 2018 when they were under serious consideration for an at-large berth in the NCAA Tournament, played two highly competitive games. Wofford won 98-92 in double overtime and Greensboro returned the favor in overtime with an 83-79 win. The 2021 version of the Spartans have not yet shown the same offensive upside as recent teams. Despite the best commit of Wes Miller’s era in Jarrett Hensley, the Spartans only rank 299th in eFG% on offense. They are only shooting 26.3% from distance and that is a big reason why the team is off to a 5-4 start and a 0-1 record in conference games. Hensley has barely played and didn’t even see the floor against East Tennessee State in the conference lid lifter last weekend. The Spartans are still doing well on the offensive glass, but haven’t converted those chances into points or free throw attempts often enough. Defensively, Greensboro has played very well, but they also rank 334th in free throw rate against. The defensive numbers have also been propped up by playing really well against some bad offensive teams. Against the better team they’ve played, the Spartans have performed below their season averages, including 1.06 points per possession allowed to ETSU last game.CLAIM YOUR WELCOME BONUS AT BETONLINE SPORTSBOOK