Chattanooga vs. Western Carolina - 2/1/20 College Basketball Pick, Odds, and Prediction
Photo by Michael Shroyer-USA TODAY Sports
Western Carolina Catamounts (13-7) at Chattanooga Mocs (14-8)
College Basketball: Saturday, February 1, 2020 at 2:00 pm (McKenzie Arena)
The Line: Chattanooga Mocs -3.5 -- Over/Under: 152 Click Here for the Latest Odds
TV: ESPN3 Stream College Basketball all season on ESPN+. Sign up now! 
The Western Carolina Catamounts and the Chattanooga Mocs meet in SoCon college basketball action from the McKenzie Arena on Saturday afternoon.
The Western Carolina Catamounts could use a win after losing 4 of their last 5 games following a 72-58 loss to UNC-Greensboro last time out. Carlos Dotson led Western Carolina with 15 points on 4 of 9 shooting with a 7 of 9 mark from the foul line along with 10 rebounds for the double-double as the lone Western Carolina player to score in double figures in the losing effort. Mason Faulkner added a team-high 6 assists as well in the defeat for the Catamounts. Faulkner leads Western Carolina in scoring and assists with an average of 18.2 points and 6.2 assists per game while Dotson leads the Catamounts in rebounding with 9.2 rebounds per game this season. AS a team, Western Carolina is averaging 80 points per game on 47% shooting from the field, 37.9% from behind the arc and 69.6% from the foul line this season.
The Chattanooga Mocs will try to find some consistency after alternating wins and losses in each of their last 5 games following a 92-84 win over Samford last time out. Matt Ryan led the Mocs with 28 points on 7 of 15 shooting with 5 threes and a perfect 9 of 9 mark from the foul line while Ramon Vila and Rod Johnson each had 18 points to cap off the trio of double-digit scorers for Chattanooga in the win with Vila shooting 9 of 11 from the floor with 6 rebounds while Johnson went 5 of 10 with 4 threes. David Jean-Baptiste added 9 points with team-highs of 7 rebounds and 8 assists as well in the defeat for the Mocs. Ryan leads Chattanooga in scoring with an average of 14.8 points per game while Vila leads the Mocs in rebounding with 5.6 rebounds per game and Maurice Commander leads Chattanooga in assists with 2.5 assists per game this season. As a team, Chattanooga is averaging 72.6 points per game on 45.3% shooting from the field, 36.2% from behind the arc and 67.8% from the foul line this season.
Western Carolina is 4-1 ATS in their last 5 road games against a team with a home winning percentage better than .600 and 6-1 ATS in their last 7 games following a game where they failed to cover the spread while the over is 5-0 in their last 5 games following a loss. Chattanooga is 5-1 ATS in their last 6 games overall and 5-2-2 ATS in their last 9 home games while the over is 6-1 in their last 7 games against a team with a winning record. The road team is 7-1 ATS in the last 8 meetings between these two teams and the underdog is 5-1 in the last 6 meetings between these two teams.
If we were getting the Catamounts from a month ago, I’d be all over the points with the Catamounts here. However, the Catamounts are struggling right now, while the Mocs are building confidence here and there and are covering the number more consistently than Western Carolina right now. The line isn’t terrible here, so I’ll lay the points with Chattanooga in this one.
Chris’s Pick Chattanooga -3.5
AUTHOR: Chris Ruffolo
