Saint Louis vs. VCU prediction and odds for Atlantic 10 semifinals

The Saint Louis Billikens had an up and down regular season, but once they arrived in Brooklyn they turned things up a few notches. On Thursday, they won their quarterfinal matchup with George Mason, 82-54. Now, the No. 4 seed has a date with the top seed in the tournament, the VCU Rams.

Saint Louis got a blowout win in the quarters, but they weren’t the only team with a lopsided victory. VCU dominated Davidson, 71-53 with an incredible balanced offensive attack. Neither of these teams have broken a sweat yet in Brooklyn, but I expect this one to be close and so does Vegas. Let’s check out the odds.

Saint Louis vs. VCU odds, spread and total

Saint Louis vs. VCU prediction and pick

Both of these teams have really great point guards who control everything for them offensively. VCU has Ace Baldwin who averages 12.6 points and 5.8 assists a game and Saint Louis has Yuri Collins who leads the nation with 10.1 assists a game. Collins also scores 11.2 points, but Baldwin might have a bigger impact on this game. He is a fierce point of attack defender who averages 2.4 steals a game.

VCU forces 16.8 turnovers per game which is a big reason that they’re fifth in defensive efficiency. Saint Louis is fourth in the A10 in turnovers with only 12.0 per game, which is mostly because of how much Yuri Collins has the ball in his hands, but he’ll be pestered by Baldwin all day long.

The last time these teams met, VCU won on the road in Saint Louis, 73-65 and Baldwin had 37 points. Meanwhile Yuri Collins only finished with 4 points, though he did have 11 assists. The Billikens are 152nd in defensive efficiency and have no answer for VCU’s best player.

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Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change