Wichita State vs Lipscomb PK – O/U 150.5
Well it certainly appears to me that both of these teams have exceeded expectations to try and win the NIT here. The Shockers of Wichita State just beat 2 powerhouses in Clemson and Indiana that some people say should have made the NCAA tournament. They are 5-0 ATS the last 5 games and almost took out the Bearcats in their conference tournament. The Lipscomb Bisons on the other hand was a bubble team themselves that just missed the tournament by losing to Liberty in their conference finals and they just took care of a power 5 team in NC State themselves with some end of the game magic. The Bisons play a fast pace ranking 14th in the league at 73 possessions per game in the Atlantic Sun conference. They also average 37th in offense and 61st on defense on Kenpom and are 4-1 ATS their last 5 games. Wichita State on the other hand plays in a tougher American Athletic Conference and has been on a tear during the month of March with their only loss vs Cincinnati in the conference tournament. Lipscomb is the more experienced team and Wichita State is the taller team. One thing I am keying in on here is that Wichita State is a poor shooting team only ranking 314th in effective FG percentage on Kenpom and shoots only 39% on the road. Playing in a neutral court like Madison Square Garden certainly will not help them out there. Lipscomb ranks 18th in the nation in effective FG percentage and shoots 46.6% on the road but has the slightly weaker defense ranking 61st on Kenpom. This should be a close game and great match-up but I think at the end of the day, Lipscomb is more motivated to win this thing. When a power 5 teams misses the NCAA tournament, they in general do not care about the NIT. When a smaller conference team doesn’t make the tournament like Lipscomb, it motivates them to prove everyone wrong. Wichita State wasn’t going to make it anyways so I have to rank their motivation as pretty standard. I have this game Lipscomb winning 79-76 and also like the over.
Libscomb PK Larger and over 150.5 smaller
