Rutgers vs. Cincinnati Jan. 30 Free Pick
A couple of Big East in the middle of the pack get together Wednesday night in Cincinnati. Rutgers (3-5 in Big East Conference play) travel to Ohio to take on Cincinnati who have accumulated a 4-3 conference record to begin the season. The oddsmakers have made the Bearcats definitive favorites to move two games over .500. They have been listed as 12.5 point favorites to open action.
Free Pick
Cincinnati has yet to play since they lost a heartbreaker in the Carrier Dome in a matinee fixture on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Nine days off may not have come at a better time for the Bearcats, who’s floor general Cashmere Wright has been nursing a sore knee. They will hope Wright will be back to full strength in a game that they should expect to win on their home floor. It will be unknown if Cincinnati experiences any rust with the overly-long layover.
Offensively, Mick Cronin and the Bearcats run an offense that relies very much on the individual scoring ability of both Wright and leading-scorer Sean Kilpatrick. They love to spread the three-point arch on the perimeter and swing the ball and then use the drive and kick-out offense for open looks for outside shooters. The Bearcats usually go as JaQuon Parker does. The senior guard shoots over 41 percent from beyond the arch and provides much-needed help for Wright and Kilpatrick in the backcourt. Titus Rubles and Cheikh Mbodj are big, physical bodies on the inside but have struggled to create any sort of inside presence offensively. Their ability on both the offensive and defensive glass will be big for Cincinnati to get a home win.
On the other bench, Rutgers come into Cincinnati in hopes of staying competitive against the seemingly more talented team. The Scarlet Knights are led by all-purpose scoring guard Eli Carter (15.4 points per game). Carter has not been particularly efficient this year when he is not getting to the free-throw line. His 38.7 field goal percentage is nothing to get excited about but Carter is ultra-efficient from the line where he converts at a 90 percent clip. Outside of Carter, Rutgers does not pose any serious individual scoring threats. Their next four leading scorers all shoot over 50 percent from the field. The quad of Myles Mack (12.8 ppg), Dane Miller (7.6 ppg), Wally Judge (7.5 ppg) and Austin Johnson (5.7 ppg) will need to be productive if Rutgers wants to have a chance at the upset bid.
Cincinnati is the more seasoned team and certainly holds an advantage on their home court. That being said, Rutgers can match up athletically very well with the Bearcats and should be able to play with this team for at least the first 20 minutes. Look to play this game in the first half where Cincinnati might experience some early rust after the long layoff.
Free Pick: Rutgers 1H +7