The Fairleigh Dickinson Knights (19-14, 10-6 NEC) visit the Merrimack Warriors (17-16, 12-4) in the Northeast Conference Tournamant title game Tuesday at Lawler Arena at 7 p.m. ET (ESPN2). Below, we analyze Tipico Sportsbook’s lines around the Fairleaigh Dickinson vs. Merrimack odds, and make our expert college basketball picks, predictions and bets.
Merrimack lost 4 conference games this season and 2 of them were to FDU. A 71-63 win by the Knights on their home court Dec. 29 was followed a month later with a 78-71 road victory. The Warriors will need to win this game on the road as well to win the conference tournament.
Unlike most conference title games, an automatic bid to March Madness is not at stake. FDU has already locked this up as Merrimack in not eligible to compete due to division rules for teams moving up in competition.
Merrimack has the 18th-ranked defense in the country at 61.8 points per game while FDU ranks top 40 in offense averaging 78.3 PPG. If the Knights can again get to 70, which it has done in both matchups this season, it will pull off another victory and head to the Big Dance with momentum.
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Fairleigh Dickinson vs. Merrimack odds
Provided by Tipico Sportsbook; access USA TODAY Sports Scores and Sports Betting Odds hub for a full list. Lines last updated at 1:11 p.m. ET.
- Moneyline (ML): Fairleigh Dickinson +155 (bet $100 to win $155) | Merrimack -180 (bet $180 to win $100)
- Against the spread (ATS): Fairleigh Dickinson +3.5 (-105) | Merrimack -3.5 (-115)
- Over/Under (O/U): 138.5 (O: -105 | U: -115)
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Fairleigh Dickinson vs. Merrimack picks and predictions
Prediction
Fairleigh Dickinson 71, Merrimack 68
Moneyline
BET FDU +155.
FDU has beaten Merrimack twice already this season. While Merrimack has a solid defense, it has been unable to hold FDU below 70 points yet this season. This will be the case again on Tuesday and Fairleigh Dickinson will pull off the win for the conference title.
Against the spread
PASS.
The wrong team is favored. Saying this, I will ride with FDU +155 on the moneyline and not make a wager on the spread of 3.5 points. If you want to be a bit safe, +3.5 (-105) is also a good play for Fairleigh Dickinson.
Over/Under
OVER 138.5 (-105)
The Over has hit in 4 of 5 games for FDU following an ATS victory. In the same scenario for Merrimack, it has gone over in 8 of 9 games. The Over has also hit in 4 of the Warriors last 5 Tuesday games.
The Knights will use its offense to force Merrimack’s 335th-ranked offense (61.3 PPG) to score points to keep up. It will have plenty of ability to do this against the Fairleigh Dickinson defense which allows 76.0 points per game.
The 138.5 is a bit too low. If it remains Under 139.5, the Over is the side.
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