Loyola-Chicago @ Colorado St.
Loyola-Chicago +9 +101 over Colorado St.

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Posted at 10:00 AM EST. Odds are subject to change.

Loyola-Chicago +9 +101 over Colorado St.

1:30 PM EST. Colorado State is 3-0 and laying nine and a half points, but the Rams have not covered a spread all season. They are 0-3 against the number, they have failed to cover in each of their last seven games, and they have not cashed a ticket since March 4. The market keeps pricing Colorado State like a team that blows people out, and Colorado State keeps winning without covering. Loyola, on the other hand, has covered 8 of its last 10 games. One team covers spreads, the other does not, and nine points is a lot to lay on a team that never covers.

The Ramblers can play. They opened the season with two 20-point home wins, 77-52 over The Citadel and 76-53 over West Georgia, and on Wednesday at Air Force they had five players in double figures: Donald Hand Jr. with 25 points and five threes, Guillaume Grotzinger with 14 points, seven assists and four steals, Xavier Amos with 13, Jason Schofield with 11 and eight rebounds, and Dayan Nessah with 10. Nessah averages 17 points and 8 rebounds a game, Grotzinger averages 8.5 assists, first in the Atlantic 10 and eighth in the country, and Schofield led the nation in offensive rebounds early in the season. Loyola dominated the paint 50-28 at Air Force and got 53 points off the bench. This is a deep, balanced team, not a one-man show.

 

This is also the second game of a two-game Colorado road trip, which matters more than it sounds. Loyola has been in the altitude since Wednesday, practising and playing at elevation, so there is no travel day and no adjustment period today. Colorado State guard Josh Pascarelli is questionable with a foot injury, and the Rams lean on Jase Butler for everything, 15.5 points, 8 rebounds and 6 assists a game. One man can only do so much against a team that shares the ball the way Loyola does.

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Our Pick

Loyola-Chicago +9 +101 (Risking 2 units - To Win: 2.02)