ASA

ASA play on: 10* OVER 225 Utah Jazz @ New Orleans Pelicans, 8PM ET

This marks the 3rd meeting of the season for these two clubs and the first two soared Over the posted totals with 248 and 254 total points being scored in the two games. Those two contests saw 184 and 183 combined field goals attempted which are both higher than league average per game. The Pelicans are 5th in the NBA in pace of play and will look to push the tempo. Utah is 20th in pace but make up for it with the 11th ranked offensive efficiency unit averaging 1.108 points per possession. The Jazz average 109.7PPG on the season but during their current 10-game winning streak they are scoring a hair under 117PPG. New Orleans has also seen an uptick in scoring of late as they are scoring +5 more points per game in their last five games compared to their season average. The Pelicans will be without Jrue Holiday tonight who is one of the teams leading scorers but he’s also one of the leagues best perimeter defenders which makes stopping the Jazz’s Donovan Mitchel (24PPG) that much tougher. The Over is on a 7-3 run in this series and win #8 is on hand this evening.

ASAwins 10* PLAY ON Troy +5 over Georgia Southern, Thursday at 7 PM ET

Troy comes in undervalued with a 7-11 overall record, 3-4 in the Sun Belt.  They are better than their record and playing very well right now.  After starting conference play with a 1-3 record, the Trojans have won 2 of their last 3 with their only loss during that stretch coming on Saturday @ Arkansas State where they lost in OT.  Troy led by 11 in the game with just over 7:00 minutes to go and ASU was able to push the game to OT and get a win.  Prior to that the Trojans won by 8 @ Texas State (the pre-season favorite in the Sun Belt) as a 10 point dog and then topped 1st place Little Rock by 5 as a 2 point dog here at Trojan Arena.  Tonight they face a Georgia Southern team that is tied for 1st place (along with Little Rock and Georgia State) and we give Troy a great shot at beating a 1st place team at home for the 2nd straight week.  Georgia Southern is off back to back double digit wins at home vs the two worst teams in the conference (UL Monroe & UL Lafayette) to improve their home mark to 8-0.  However, on the road this GSU team is just 2-6 SU including conference losses @ App State and @ Little Rock.  Their lone Sun Belt road win was by 3 points @ Coastal Carolina.  Even if they win here, we expect it to be close and Southern is laying 5 points when one week ago, Little Rock (also in 1st place) was laying 2 @ Troy (and lost as we mentioned).  The current spread of -5 is GSU’s highest number they’ve laid on the road this season, tied with when they played @ Florida Gulf Coast who is ranked 320th, has a 5-14 record with 2 of their wins coming vs non-division 1 schools and 2 other wins in OT.  This line is too high.  Troy is better defensively allowing 41.6% (150th nationally) while Southern allows 44% and is a full 100 spots lower in total defense (250th nationally).  Troy has won 5 of their last 6 at home with their only loss coming by 5 vs App State in a game the Trojans led by 12 in the 2nd half.  Again, we feel Troy has a great shot to win this game and even if not, it should be close.  Take the points.

ASA NHL TOP PLAY 10* ON OVER: Los Angeles Kings at Florida Panthers, Thursday at 7:05 PM ET

The Kings have been instructed by their head coach to play faster and with more aggression.  The result has been 2 of their 3 games on this road trip totaling 7 goals.  With Los Angeles facing one of the highest scoring teams in the league – and also a team that currently has a goalie issue – another game with plenty of scoring is likely on Thursday.  Florida is expected to again be without starting goalie Sergei Bobrovsky tonight.  The means Sam Montembeault (5 goals allowed in each of his last 3 starts) or Chris Driedger (4 goals allowed in 3 of his last 4 starts) are the two options here for the Panthers.  Neither of those options yield much in the way of confidence in the Florida crease   However, what does yield confidence for the Panthers is the way they’ve been playing in the offensive zone.  Florida’s offensive production has been particularly lethal on home ice.  The Panthers are 6-1 in their last 7 home games and Florida has averaged scoring 5.4 goals per game in its past 7 home games.  The Panthers have allowed an average of 4 goals per game in their past 6 home games.  Our computer math model is projecting this game to end with 8 goals with projections ranging from a 4-3 to a 5-4 game.  Either way, seeing 7 or more goals in this one seems quite likely and the over is 7-0 in Florida’s last 7 games as a host.  We look for the high-scoring trend to again hold true tonight  as the over streak reaches 8 in a row.  Bet the OVER in the Florida Panthers game in early evening NHL action Thursday.