The Maui Invitational championship kicks off on Wednesday night between the Memphis Tigers, who rattled off impressive wins against No. 2 UConn and a gritty Michigan State team, and the Auburn Tigers.
Additionally, we will cover the “Battle 4 Atlantis” matchup between the Louisville Cardinals and the No. 14 Indiana Hoosiers.
Keep reading for our best college basketball picks for these two blockbuster matchups below!
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Date: Wednesday, November 27
Time: 12:00 pm EST
Moneyline: Louisville -104 | Indiana -115
Spread: Louisville +0.5 (-104) | Indiana -0.5 (-118)
Total: Over 153.5 (-110) | Under 153.5 (-110)
All odds are available via FanDuel Sportsbook but are subject to change.
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The 14th-ranked Indiana Hoosiers have raced off to a 4-0 start to kick off their 2024-25 campaign.
However, it has not been all that pretty.
Indiana was losing by one point to Eastern Illinois at the end of the first half in one of its non-conference games. The Hoosiers also narrowly held off UNC Greensboro on their home floor.
In terms of talent level, Indiana should have no issue crushing most of the teams it plays, but thus far, it hasn’t been able to do that.
The Hoosiers’ half-court offense and ball protection issues could prevent them from being a true national contender.
Now, Indiana faces a Louisville team that applies pressure defensively (38th in adjusted defensive efficiency, per KenPom), plays quickly (29th in tempo), and forces a lot of turnovers (third in opponent turnovers).
The Cardinals also start a pair of near-seven-footers (James Scott and Noah Waterman) in their frontcourt, so Indiana’s typical size advantage from rolling out a traditional two-big lineup will be non-existent.
Additionally, Myles Rice has been Indiana’s clear X-factor thus far in the season, but he will have a tough matchup with former Wisconsin point guard Chucky Hepburn (3.0 steals per game), one of the most elite guard defenders in the country.
Suppose Rice can’t get around Hepburn to apply rim pressure. In that case, Indiana’s offense will again be relegated to passing in the post and relying on Mike Woodson’s old-school interior play style. That won’t be enough against a solid team like Louisville.
Until Indiana beats a good team and proves it can knock down shots from the perimeter, rebound consistently, and score in the half-court, it will be difficult to back it in these spots.
Date: Wednesday, November 27
Time: 5:00 pm EST
Moneyline: Memphis +270 | Auburn -345
Spread: Memphis +7.5 (-102) | Auburn -7.5 (-120)
Total: Over 155.5 (-110) | Under 155.5 (-110)
All odds are available via FanDuel Sportsbook but are subject to change.
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Memphis strung together two heroic efforts to reach the championship game of the Maui Invitational.
First, the Tigers knocked off the second-ranked UConn Huskies in overtime and carried that momentum into the next day, defeating the Michigan State Spartans.
After those two wins, Memphis’s adjusted efficiency margin skyrocketed to 27th in KenPom, but it probably deserves to be ranked even higher.
The elite guard trio of PJ Haggerty, Tyrese Hunter, and Colby Rogers has proven to be one of the most dangerous.
They have combined for more than 50 points, 11 rebounds, and eight assists through the team’s first six games.
As a team, Memphis ranks second in three-point percentage, 29th in points per game, and 68th in opponent two-point percentage.
Meanwhile, the Auburn Tigers hit a game-winning shot (tip-in) against fifth-ranked Iowa State and then handled the 12th-ranked North Carolina Tar Heels with relative ease the next night.
The Heels became the third highly-ranked team that Auburn has beaten this season. We may very well be watching the best team in the country.
Auburn ranks second in KenPom’s adjusted efficiency margin metric, with the second-best offense and the ninth-best defense.
Even though the Tigers have played an extremely tough schedule so far, they rank 18th nationally in opponent effective field goal percentage. Auburn has arguably the country’s best interior defense behind superstar two-way forward Johni Broome.
And I expect Broome and company to cause Memphis some problems on the defensive end of the floor.
Memphis is the real deal but its ridiculously efficient shooting right now is not sustainable. A large portion of Memphis’s 3-point attempts have been contested, off-the-dribble looks.
Against an exceptional perimeter defensive team like Auburn, which allows opponents to take merely 18 3-pointers per game, it is tough to imagine all of those shots falling at their current percentage.
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