Lafayette (8-13) vs American ()
January 29, 2025 at 07:00 PM EST
The Line: Betting Odds: Lafayette +1 — Over/Under: 131.5
The American Eagles and the Lafayette Leopards meet Wednesday in college basketball action from the Bender Arena. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best bets for this game. Here’s an American vs. Lafayette prediction.
American Recap
The American Eagles come into this looking to build on an 81-77 win over Colgate last time out to improve to 12-9 on the year. After this game, American will head home for a game against Army.
Eagles Win 5th In A Row
Matt Rogers leads the Eagles in scoring with 16.4 PPG and 5.5 RPG while Colin Smalls has 10.7 PPG. Elijah Stephens has 11.1 PPG with a team-high 3.8 APG to lead the Eagles in assists and Greg Jones also has 10.3 PPG with 4 RPG to round out the group of double-digit scorers for American up to this point in the year. Matt Mayock has 8 PPG with 3 RPG as well on the season. As a team, American is averaging 69.9 PPG on 44.4% shooting from the field, 34.8% from three, and 76% from the foul line this season.
Why the American University Eagles will win
- American University has won each of its last five games.
- Lafayette has lost nine of its last 11 night games against the Patriot League.
Lafayette Recap
The Lafayette Leopards come into this game looking to bounce back from an 86-47 loss to Lehigh last time out to fall to 8-13 on the year. After this game, Lafayette will head on the road for a rematch with Colgate.
Leopards Looking To Rebound
Justin Vander Baan leads the Leopards in scoring and rebounding with 12.1 PPG and 6.2 RPG while Alex Chaikin has 11.4 PPG as the only other double-digit scorer for Lafayette so far this season. Caleb Williams has 9.8 PPG with 3.3 RPG and 2 APG while Andrew Phillips has 9.5 PPG with 4.3 RPG and Mark Butler has 6.9 PPG with 2.7 RPG along with a team-high 3 APG to lead the Leopards in the assist department up to this point in the year. As a team, Lafayette is averaging 68.6 PPG on 42.8% shooting from the field, 34.2% from three, and 67.9% from the foul line this season.
Why the Lafayette Leopards will win
- Lafayette has won 12 of its last 15 games against American University.
- American University has lost eight of its last 10 road games.
American vs. Lafayette Prediction
I’m on American here. The Eagles have been arguably the class of the Patriot League this season alongside conference stalwart Colgate, and while American’s best work this season has been done at home by far, I’d be ignorant to just ignore that the Eagles are the hottest team in the Patriot League by a fair margin. Lafayette may be at home and a win would help them crack the top half of the Patriot League, but let’s not forget that this is the same Lafayette team that was demolished by Lehigh, who is the worst team in the conference and lost that game by 39 points. Bounceback spots at home are nice and all well and good, but I can’t just ignore that result. Give me American in this one.