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After making the NCAA Tournament two of the past three seasons, it’s a new era in Oral Roberts Golden Eagles basketball with Russell Springmann in his first year as the team’s coach and will look to build momentum in their home game against the Texas Southern Tigers on Tuesday.
Texas Southern Tigers vs. Oral Roberts Golden Eagles (-8.5, 143)
While coach Paul Mills and last season’s top scorer Max Abmas gave moved on from Oral Roberts, four of the team’s top eight scorers from a season ago are back with three of the four coming off of seasons in which they shift at least 39% from 3-point range.
The Golden Eagles get to face a Texas Southern defense that entered Monday 263rd in America in opponent 3-point shooting percentage while Texas Southern simultaneously deals with massive offensive issues.
Texas Southern is averaging 67.5 points per 100 possessions, which entering Monday was 5.1 points per 100 possessions fewer than any other Division I college basketball team and the team does not have a single player averaging more than 8.7 points per game.
Though Texas Southern should see improvement on their 20.2% 3-point shooting percentage as the season goes along, they have a track record of struggling from beyond the arc, ranking 282nd or worse in 3-point shooting percentage each of the past five seasons.
The shooting woes for Texas Southern have been compounded by their inability to get to the free throw line, averaging the fifth-fewest made free throws per possession of any team in the country
Where Texas Southern will look for an advantage is on the glass with Oral Roberts entering Monday 348th in the country in rebound rate, but the Tigers have had their own issues on the boards, ranking 288th in rebound rate.
Both teams are in search of their first win over a Division I opponent, and with Texas Southern’s offensive issues and Oral Roberts taking care of the ball, ranking 13th in the country in turnovers per possession, the Golden Eagles will bust through with a convincing win.
The Play: Oral Roberts -8.5