Dayton And St. Louis Should Pour In Points

Dayton vs. St. Louis, 7:00 ET

I split my plays yesterday between basketball and hockey. Tonight I'll likely do the same as we have a smaller slate on the horizon. This is still a really exciting time of the year for sports with college hoops in full swing and the NCAA tournament on the horizon. We also have the NHL and the NBA rapidly nearing the postseason, the Super Bowl is next week, and the MLB has pitchers and catchers reporting soon. It should be great. Before we get to all of that, we take on the game between Dayton and St. Louis. 

Dayton is 14-7 right now, and kind of struggling in the conference play. Dayton started the year strong, but this struggle in conference play has been a pretty big disaster. Before conference play started, the team was 10-3. Their losses came against North Carolina, Iowa State, and Cincinnati, all ranked teams. All three of those losses also came on a neutral court. They did beat UConn on a neutral court and they also took down Marquette at home in that span, so they had some impressive wins as well. This month, they've been just 3-4 with losses against George Washington, Massachusetts, George Mason, and St. Bonaventure. Three of those losses came on the road, and one was at home, the game against George Mason. The Flyers have some decent balance with their scoring, even though Nate Santos and Enoch Cheeks lead the team in scoring the majority of nights. They have five guys averaging around 10 points per game and another two contributing about six points per game. 

Dec 20, 2024; Cincinnati, Ohio, USA;  Dayton Flyers guard Enoch Cheeks (6) rebounds the ball against Cincinnati Bearcats guard Dan Skillings Jr. (0) in the second half at Heritage Bank Center. Mandatory Credit: Aaron Doster-Imagn Images

St. Louis doesn't have a better record than Dayton, but they do have a better conference record at 6-2 so this could be a significant game for both teams. The Billikens first 12 games were split between wins and losses, but none of the teams they faced were all that impressive. For whatever reason, they've found success in the A-10 Conference. Their only losses in conference play have come against George Washington and VCU. They have done a nice job at home this season, losing just one game on their home court this year, and it was against Wofford. For the season, St. Louis has done a pretty good job of scoring, averaging 75 points per game, and they are allowing just 69 points per game. However, those numbers are identical to what Dayton is doing. St. Louis doesn't really have the same depth or balance in scoring though. What they do have is three guys scoring 16 or more points per game this season. That's not something a lot of colleges can boast, so it is impressive work. 

This is a game that should feature mostly scoring between the two squads. While both are fairly capable of playing good defense, I couldn't categorize it as lockdown defense. I have some concern that Dayton will not be able to score at will, but they should be able to put up whatever they need in order to get things done. I'm going to back the over 144.5 in this one. I lean toward St. Louis winning this one on the moneyline as well.

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