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Saint Joe’s vs La Salle Odds, Lines, and Spread (Mar. 9)

   Published Date: March 9, 2022
  • The Saint Joe’s vs La Salle odds favor the Hawks by 2.5-points on Wednesday (March ) at 1pm ET
  • The winner of this game will face Saint Louis in the second round of the Atlantic 10 Tournament
  • Read below for the Saint Joe’s vs La Salle odds, analysis, and betting prediction

The Atlantic 10 Tournament tips-off on Wednesday (March 9th) with a pair of contests from the nation’s capital. First up, 13th seed Saint Joseph’s takes on 12th seed La Salle, which marks the third meeting this season between these two programs.

The Explorers swept the season series, but oddsmakers aren’t expecting La Salle to go three-for-three against its conference rival.

Saint Joseph’s vs La Salle Odds

Team Moneyline Spread Total
Saint Joseph’s Hawks -135 -2.5  (-110) O 134 (-110)
La Salle Explorers +115 +2.5  (-110) U 134 (-110)

Odds as of March 8th at BetMGM.

 

Despite being the lower seed St Joe’s opened up as a 2.5-point favorite in a game that features a total of 134. The action gets underway shortly after 1:00 pm ET at the Capital One Arena in Washington, DC with ESPN+ providing the coverage.

Saint Joseph’s vs La Salle Betting Analysis

The winner of this matchup between Pennsylvania rivals will face 5th seed Saint Louis in the second round. Both need to win the A10 Tournament to earn a spot in the March Madness bracket, but both are extremely longshots. Saint Joseph’s is a 300-1 bet to earn the automatic March Madness bid in the A10 Tournament odds, while La Salle’s odds are only slightly shorter at +25000.

The last time the Explorers made the NCAA Tournament was in 2013, when they shocked the college hoops world by advancing to the Sweet Sixteen as a 13-seed. The Hawks, meanwhile, have made two March Madness trips over the last decade, the last one coming in 2016.

Saint Joseph’s picked up a much needed win in their final regular-season outing, taking down Rhode Island 70-60. The victory snapped a seven-game losing streak, although five of those losses were by 6 points or fewer.

La Salle on the other hand, enters play riding a three-game winning streak. They defeated last place Duquesne in their regular-season finale, in addition to a victory over the Hawks and one over third seed Dayton as well.

These two programs check in ranked eighth and ninth in the Atlantic 10 in points per game, and neither shoots a particularly high percentage from the field. They rank 10th and 11th in shooting percentage, while Saint Joseph’s lives and dies by the three.

They take a conference-high 26 three’s per outing, but average only 9 makes. The Hawks should get a boost in their three-point efficiency on Wednesday, however, as the Explorers are third-worst in the Atlantic 10 at defending beyond the arc.

Defense is considered a weakness of both programs, as they each rank bottom-five in the conference in opponent points per game.

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Saint Joseph’s vs La Salle Betting Trends

La Salle has covered in three straight outings, but they’re by no means a team bettors can rely on. They’re 11-14 against the spread this season, and were 8-8-2 in conference play.

Saint Joseph’s was a little kinder to its backers during the regular season, beating the spread in two of its final three games, and posting a 7-5 ATS mark in its final 12 contests. They were 2-0 against the spread at neutral site venues, which bodes well for this matchup in Washington on Wednesday.

Total wise, the Explorers were 14-14 versus the closing over/under line, while Hawks’ games tend to come in under the number. Each of Saint Joseph’s final four outings fell short of the total, while the under was 12-6 in their conference games.

Saint Joseph’s vs La Salle Pick

When these two teams last met seven days ago, the Hawks raced out to a 12-point lead. They extended it to 15 points in the second half before they went ice cold from the field. Saint Joseph’s shot just 15.8% in the final 20 minutes of that contest, which allowed the Explorers to rally and pick up a 49-48 victory.

La Salle has actually erased a 15-point deficit in back-to-back outings, and if they fall behind again in this matchup, it’s hard to imagine a third straight come from behind victory.

The Hawks rank 74 spots higher than the Explorers per KenPom, and 53 spots higher per the NCAA NET Rankings. If they can start this game the way did in their last meeting, they should be able to knock La Salle out of this year’s conference tournament, just like they did last year.

Pick: Saint Joseph’s Hawks -2.5 (-110) 

The post Saint Joe’s vs La Salle Odds, Lines, and Spread (Mar. 9) appeared first on Sports Betting Dime.

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Author: Stacy Hoffman