Memphis Will Solidify American Conference Win Today

Memphis vs. UAB, 4:00 ET

As usual, I put out a pair of plays yesterday on college hoops. If you were able to get the opening number for both, you lined your pockets. If you were only able to bet after the market had shifted the total for the Tennessee and Alabama game, you would've went 1-1. Not a terrible day, but I also don't think that was a bad play. The teams combined for 50 points in the first 11 minutes of the game. The Iowa State game was a bit of a cakewalk and it didn't matter what number you got because they covered with ease. Let's see if we can replicate that here as Memphis takes on UAB.

Memphis comes into the game as one of the better teams in the nation. If you haven't followed them, I'll give you a bit of a recap of the season, but you should also know they are coached by Penny Hardaway. In his few years there it seems like they get decent talent interested in coming to the program, and are usually one of the lower-ranked teams, but they also seem to have stretches where they aren't a great team. This season hasn't been much of a struggle for them at all with a 23-5 record and a 13-2 conference record. Their losses this season came against Auburn which is probably the best team in the country. They also lost to Arkansas State and Mississippi State at home. I know that Mississippi State is one of the better teams in the country now, but at the time they were unranked and made light work of the Tigers. The two conference losses came against Temple and at Wichita State. Nothing against either team, but Memphis probably should've won both of those. There are just times when college teams lose games on the road, so it also isn't anything egregious. 

While they aren't ranked, UAB is actually a good team. UAB is coming into this game with a 19-9 record and is just one game back of the Tigers for a share of the regular season conference win in the American conference. They are currently 12-3 in conference play. For UAB they didn't start the season as strong, and really haven't had to face the same level of competition early in the year as the Tigers did. They lost at home to Vermont to start their season, then lost at High Point, wherever the hell that is, then dropped back-to-back games on a neutral floor to Longwood and Illinois State. Although they were competitive in those games, it still showed the team was figuring things out. Since December, the team has gone 15-5, losing to Middle Tennessee, Arkansas State, North Texas, Memphis, and East Carolina. Two of those game were home games, and the last three were road losses. In the game against Memphis, the team lost by 23 points and are now looking for revenge. 

Although Memphis cruised to a win in the first game there is good reason to think this game will be significantly closer. In the first matchup, Memphis shot 62% from the floor and 53% from deep. Aside from that, the two teams were pretty evenly matched in terms of the rest of stats - with the exception of assists where Memphis clearly was better. I think this is not going to be as big of a blowout, but Memphis should still win this one without it being too much of a sweat. Back Memphis at -115. 

For more sports betting information and plays, follow David on X/Twitter: @futureprez2024