Basketball | Wednesday, January 25, 2023 10:16 AM

VCU Rams vs George Mason Patriots Best Bet: An Atlantic-10 Shootout

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US Sports Expert

VCU Rams vs George Mason Patriots Best Bet: Wednesday, January 25th

Our resident NCAA Basketball expert Ej Garr is turning his attention to an Atlantic-10 Conference battle on Wednesday night. The Virginia Commonwealth Rams will be playing host to the George Mason Patriots at the Stuart C. Siegel Center in the heart of downtown Richmond, and Ej is expecting an exciting affair to take place.

In this article:

VCU Rams vs George Mason Patriots Preview

January 26, 00:05 (UK time)

The VCU Rams are currently perched atop the Atlantic-10 Conference table, and they’ll put their 6 – 1 record against conference foes on the line this Wednesday night. At 15 – 5, the Rams also have the best overall record in the A-10 while taking wins from 11 of 12 games played here at the Siegel Center.

I watched the second half of the Patriots’ game against Rhode Island on Saturday, and that underdog had some bite in them. George Mason escaped with a 79 – 72 road win as 5-point dogs, and Josh Oduro continued to be a beast on the glass. It felt like for every ball that fell short there was big Josh Oduro there to scoop up the board. He ended the game with 24 points, 14 rebounds, 3 steals, and 2 blocks, although he can’t make a free throw to save the world.

Now I know that every team in the conference is having a good time beating up on Rhode Island this year, and we’ll call it revenge for all of the years they were bullying everyone. That’s a different story for another day, and I am certainly not banking on the Patriots to go out and put up 80 points on VCU’s defense.

VCU is ranked 48th in the Nation allowing just over 64 points a game, but I do think that the Patriots can come in here and better that number. With 136.5 being posted on this total, I envision George Mason scoring 66 points on the Rams, and one thing VCU does at home is score points. I don’t think George Mason will have a lick of success slowing down the Rams as they work their way to 80 points in this building again.

The Rams are averaging 83.2 points in their last 5 home games, and it is undoubtedly a team effort to get there. When your leading scorer only brings in just over 12 points an outing, you start to look over the roster and see how everyone contributes to this team. The Rams are close to having 5 players averaging double-digits, and that keeps defenses guessing.

Brandon Johns Jr. is that guy leading the way for the Rams with his 12.5, and he is one of a cast of characters who bury their free throws. VCU has seven players shooting over 70% from the charity stripe, and we love late free throws in close games to push totals over the number.