#747/748 ASA TOP PLAY ON 10* Under 130 Points – Syracuse vs VCU, Wednesday at 5 PM ET - Syracuse is coming off a high scoring game vs Colgate which pushed this total quite a bit higher than it should be by our projections. It has dropped a few points since but we still like the Under in this game. Colgate was a very good shooting team that likes to play at a high tempo. They made 18 three pointers in their big win over Syracuse. By comparison, VCU had made 15 three pointers the entire season in 4 games. The Rams are a poor shooting team (286th eFG%), that doesn’t make FT’s (61%) and plays slow. On the other end of the court VCU has been outstanding. They rank 4th nationally in eFG% defense and they’ve allowed their first 4 opponents an average of 51 PPG with none topping 58. Syracuse has solid offensive numbers but they’ve played 3 defenses that rank 192nd or lower in efficiency. 2 of the 3 teams they’ve faced also like to play up tempo and that won’t be the case in this one. To beat the Syracuse zone you need to make some 3’s and VCU just isn’t equipped to do that (313th in 3-point %). They love to play inside the paint. The Cuse is a solid 3-point shooting team thus far but they are now facing a VCU defense that allows just 21% from beyond the arc (6th nationally). It’s tough to get shots against both of these defenses which is why they ranked 350th and 355th in defensive pace. Our projections have this landing in the mid to upper 120’s so we’ll take the UNDER.