William & Mary takes on Towson from SECU Arena on Thursday night at 7pmET. The Tribe are 10-5 in the CAA to place them in second place, while the Tigers are tied with Delaware for third place at 9-5.
Towson won the first meeting from William & Mary 70-58.
Home Sweet Home
William & Mary had struggled in early February, starting off with three losses at Charleston (68-50), to Hofstra at home (83-60) and at UNCW (70-64). But last Thursday, they got back on the winning track with a 77-72 win over Drexel and 81-77 victory over Delaware at home. The Tribe love to play at Kaplan Arena, where they are 11-2 this season. Their only losses at home came against Towson and Hofstra, two of the better teams in the CAA. In their win over the Blue Hens this past Saturday, Nathan Knight (6-10, 254) had another monster game with 33 points and 12 rebounds on 12-of-19 shooting. William & Mary shot 58% from the field, but just 3-of-11 from beyond the arc. They slowed down a red-hot Delaware team that had won seven straight games, although their star Nate Darling produced 36 points on 10-of-18 shooting.
Knight leads Division I with 21 double-doubles and is the favorite to win the CAA Player of the Year. He’s averaging 21.2 points and 10.9 rebounds on 53.6% shooting (30.7% 3pt). He has some help from Andy Van Vliet (7-0, 231) with 13.5 points and 8.5 rebounds. Guard Thornton Scott (7.2ppg, 4.2apg) missed the Delaware game and is considered questionable. The Tribe ranks 200 overall according to KenPom, 166th in adjusted offensive efficiency and 244th in adjusted defensive efficiency. They allow 69.1 points per game on 42.8% shooting (34.2% 3pt). They outrebound teams by 4.6 per game and shoot 46.5% from the field and 33.9% from long range.
Big game for the Tigers
Most teams play to win their league tournament at the mid-major level. Winning the regular season only guarantees you a trip to the NIT and a first seed in the tournament. Finishing second in the CAA allows you to play a team that played in the first round on Saturday and those teams are generally not very good. Towson sits in third place, though they would be the fourth seed if the season ended today. That would mean a quarterfinals matchup against Charleston, which would be the worst-case scenario. Why? Because the Cougars owned the Tigers in both games this season.
Sweeping William & Mary in the regular season won’t be an easy task, but for Towson to get in that top three or even the third seed, they desperately need to win this game and Saturday’s home game against Elon. After that, they travel up to first-place Hofstra next week and finish at Northeastern. Most likely, they’ll need to go at least 3-1 to get in the top three and go 4-0 to grab a top-two seed.
Towson has won three straight games, though one of the games was against non-Division I Regent last week. They used a dominant defensive and rebounding performance (+17) to beat JMU last Saturday 63-48 on the road.
Overall, Towson ranks 158th on KenPom, 135th in adjusted offense efficiency and 206th in adjusted defensive efficiency. Senior guard Brian Fobbs leads the Tigers with 15.9 points per game on 42.4% shooting (31.1% 3pt). Sophomore wing Allen Betrand adds 14.5 points on 45.9% shooting (40.2% 3pt). Towson’s strength is on the boards (+5.0) and free throw shooting (76.8%, 25th). They also hold teams to 66.1 points per game on 40.5% shooting (32.2% 3pt). They struggle from the field, making 43.4% and 34% from beyond the arc.
Look for a fast pace in this game with the total somewhere in the 150’s.
FREE PICK: William-Mary / Towson OVER 140
