Free Pick | NCAA | Tuesday | Dec. 16

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#604 Evansville +8.5 over Belmont 6 PM CT

Evansville is only 4-7 on the season but the Purple Aces have faced a top 100 schedule so far with three top 100 defeats. The Aces have gone 3-2 S/U at home this season and beat Oregon State in a neutral site game. The home losses came by five and eight against decent competition as well. This is the conference opener for Evansville and last season this was a close game as Belmont won just 85-82 at Evansville on its way to a 13-7 MVC finish. Belmont looks like one of the MVC favorites again this season with a 10-1 start including winning its conference opener on Saturday with a narrow three-point home win over Illinois Chicago. This will be just the fourth road game of the season for the Bruins, and the current 40 percent 3-point shooting pace isn’t likely to sustain over the course of the season. Belmont’s schedule ranks #320 right now for a great contrast with Evansville’s path. Evansville has rare size for an MVC squad and will likely finish with better defensive numbers by season’s end than the current results through a difficult early season schedule suggest. David Ragland’s team was the second best defensive efficiency team in the MVC season last year and the Aces were a competitive 8-12 team in league play following a 3-8 non-conference season last year. Competitive losses were the norm for Evansville last season as in going 4-5 at home last season in league play, only one defeat came by a double-digit margin. A relatively close game looks possible today as the Aces can stall the shooting pace for Belmont.