T.M. Selection: UC Riverside/Hawaii UNDER.

I am on the under in the UC Riverside vs Hawaii game on Thursday. UC Riverside hasn't been involved in a lot of low scoring games lately but they have been in some very close losses. Their 2 most recent games are both games where they lost by less than 3 points and both teams put up 70+ points in both games but neither team got over 75 points in those games either. I think this is going to be a close game just like those but I expect it to be a lower scoring game since Hawaii plays great on the defensive end and I think they are the better team here. I expect Hawaii to dictate the pace of this game with their defensive play and I don't see either of these putting up more than 65 points in this game. Hawaii has looked really good lately with 3 wins in their previous 4 games and they have only put up 65+ points in 1 of those games too. They are a very low scoring team and have been in most of their games this year but it is their defensive ability that is winning them games. They have given up 68+ points in 1/7 of their previous 7 games and they have even been keeping the opposing teams under 60 points in a lot of these games. The 1 time that they faced each other this year was also a low scoring game, UC Riverside won on their home court 64-59 but even in a loss they kept UC Riverside from scoring a lot of points in that game. I expect this game to be similar to that game but I think Hawaii will play better here since UC Riverside is on their home court this time. I think Hawaii will turn it up a notch on defense now that this is tournament play and I expect to see a great performance form them on the defensive end. I think they will control the pace here and keep this game low scoring. I like the under in this game.

T.M. Prediction: 62-57 Hawaii.