Providence Friars vs Butler Bulldogs Prediction, 12/23/2020 College Basketball Pick, Tips and Odds

Game: Providence Friars vs Butler Bulldogs

Date: Wednesday, December 23, 2020

Location: Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, IN

TV: CBSSN

Odds/Point Spread: Providence (+1)

The Butler Bulldogs (1-3) play the Providence Friars (5-2) at Hinkle Fieldhouse on Wednesday. Providence opens this game as 1-point underdogs. The O/U is set at 139.5.

Providence steps onto the court with a win-loss mark of 5-2 on the season. They turn it over 10.4 times per contest and as a unit they are committing 18.4 personal fouls per contest. As a team, Providence is collecting 34.7 boards per contest and has accumulated 96 dimes for the year, which ranks 131st in Division 1 in terms of passing the ball. The Friars are connecting on 28.1% on three-point shots (34 of 121) and 72.4% from the charity stripe. They are averaging 75.3 pts per game (140th in Division 1) while connecting on 46.5% from the field. When they are on defense, the Friars have forced 13.4 turnovers on a nightly basis and they draw 19.7 personal fouls. They are currently ranked 195th in college hoops in allowing assists to their opponents with 83 conceded this season. The Friars defense is allowing a FG percentage of 44.8% (175 of 391) and they relinquish 33.3 boards per game as a group. They give up 33.8% on 3-pointers and they are ranked 202nd in college hoops in points per game allowed (71.3).

The Providence Friars took the court against the Seton Hall Pirates and went home with a win by a final score of 80-77 in their last game. Providence ended the game with a 46.8% field goal percentage (29 out of 62) and knocked down 9 of their 18 shots from distance. At the free throw line, the Friars made 13 of their 16 tries for a percentage of 81.3%. In reference to pulling down rebounds, they earned a total of 35 with 10 of them being of the offensive sort. They also doled out 16 assists in this game as well as having 6 steals and 5 blocked shots. When talking about defending, Providence let their opponent shoot 46.8% from the floor on 29 out of 62. Seton Hall doled out 14 dimes and 11 steals in the matchup. Additionally, the Pirates collected 29 rebounds (8 offensive, 21 defensive) and earned 5 blocked shots. Seton Hall walked away from this one shooting 76.2% from the free throw line by making 16 of their 21 shots. They knocked down 7 out of their 21 attempts from three-point range.

Nate Watson is someone who was pivotal in the matchup. He ended up scoring 23 points on 10 out of 16 shooting. He played for 37 mins played and snagged 11 rebounds. Watson ended up going 62.5% from the floor and distributed 2 dimes. One more player that saw a lot of action in the game for the Friars was David Duke. He grabbed 10 boards and also accumulated 3 dimes. He ended up shooting 30.8% from the floor for this contest by going 4-of-13 (18 points). When the final whistle blew, Duke was on the hardwood for 40 min.

Butler has a win-loss mark of 1-3 for the year. As an offensive team, the Bulldogs are shooting 43.3% from the floor, which ranks 235th in D-1. Butler has totaled 265 points so far this season (66.3 per contest) and they pull down 32.3 boards per contest. They are dishing out assists 11.5 times per game (280th in Division 1) and they lose possession by turning the ball over 12.0 times per contest. The Bulldogs are committing 18.5 personal fouls per game and they shoot 63.3% from the charity stripe. The Bulldogs on the defensive end are ranked 230th in D-1 in PPG surrendered with 72.8. The Butler defense gives up 46.1% on shots from beyond the perimeter (35 of 76) and their opposition makes 66.7% of their free throw attempts. They have conceded 15.8 assists and 30.0 total boards per game, which ranks them 288th and 35th in those defensive categories. They are able to force 11.0 turnovers per game and have allowed teams to shoot 51.0% from the floor (326th in college basketball).

In their last game, the Butler Bulldogs took a loss by a score of 76-73 when they faced the Southern Illinois Salukis. The Bulldogs pulled down 22 defensive rebounds and 10 offensive boards for a total of 32 for the game. They also rejected 5 shots while earning 5 steals for the game. The Salukis earned 19 fouls for this contest which got the Bulldogs to the free throw line for 17 attempts. They were able to make 13 of the free throws for a percentage of 76.5%. With respect to 3-point attempts, Butler buried 8 of 22 tries (36.4%). At the conclusion of this game, the Bulldogs finished 26 out of 57 from the floor which had them shooting 45.6%. The Bulldogs permitted the Salukis to make 29 out of their 53 attempts from the floor which left them with a shooting percentage of 54.7% for the matchup. They finished 47.4% from distance by shooting 9 of 19 and finished the contest at 9 out of 14 from the free throw line (64.3%). When talking about rebounding, Butler allowed Southern Illinois to grab 20 in all (1 offensive).

Bryce Nze played a lot for the Bulldogs for this game. He knocked down 6 of 8 in the game giving him a field goal percentage of 75.0%, which gave him 14 points. Nze collected 11 rebounds in his 34 minutes played and earned 5 dimes for this contest. One more player that ended up coming through for Butler was Myles Tate. He finished with 12 points in his 35 minutes on the hardwood via 4 out of 10 from the floor for this contest. Tate ended the game having shot 40.0% from the field as well as contributing 3 assists and 2 rebounds.

Who will win tonight's college basketball game against the spread?

Tony Sink's Pick: Take Providence (+1)

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