Who’s Playing
James Madison Dukes @ UIC Flames
Current Records: James Madison 2-2, UIC 3-1
How To Watch
What to Know
The UIC Flames will face off against the James Madison Dukes at 11:00 a.m. ET on Thursday at Ocean Center. The Flames are no doubt hoping to put an end to a four-game streak of away losses dating back to last season.
UIC is headed in fresh off scoring the most points they have all season. They put a hurting on St. Mary’s (MN) to the tune of 117-59 on Saturday. The matchup was pretty much decided by the half, when the score had already reached 58-30.
UIC was working as a unit and finished the game with 31 assists. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as St. Mary’s (MN) only posted 14.
Meanwhile, James Madison was within striking distance but couldn’t close the gap on Saturday as they fell 67-63 to Towson. The Dukes have struggled against the Tigers recently, as the game was their third consecutive lost matchup.
The loss doesn’t tell the whole story though, as several players had good games. One of the most active was Mark Freeman, who went 7 for 13 en route to 20 points. The team also got some help courtesy of Xavier Brown, who had 16 points in addition to five rebounds.
UIC’s victory bumped their record up to 3-1. As for James Madison, their loss dropped their record down to 2-2.
Some high-performance offense is likely on the agenda as both are some of the highest scoring teams in the league. UIC hasn’t had any problem running up the score this season, having averaged 93.2 points per game. However, it’s not like James Madison struggles in that department as they’ve been averaging 80. With both teams so easily able to put up points, the only question left is who can run the score up higher.
UIC is hoping to beat the odds on Thursday, as the experts think they’re headed for a loss. For those looking to play the spread, keep UIC in mind: they have a solid 3-0 record against the spread this season.
Odds
James Madison is a 3.5-point favorite against UIC, according to the latest college basketball odds.
The oddsmakers had a good feel for the line for this one, as the game opened with the Dukes as a 2.5-point favorite.
The over/under is 145.5 points.
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