Dia leads Belmont against Evansville after 25-point game

Sun, Mar 3, 2024
NCAAB News (AP)

Evansville Purple Aces (15-15, 6-13 MVC) at Belmont Bruins (18-12, 11-8 MVC)

Nashville, Tennessee; Sunday, 5 p.m. EST

FANDUEL SPORTSBOOK LINE: Bruins -10.5; over/under is 155

BOTTOM LINE: Belmont hosts the Evansville Purple Aces after Malik Dia scored 25 points in Belmont's 83-61 victory against the Murray State Racers.

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The Bruins have gone 11-2 in home games. Belmont ranks third in the MVC with 15.1 assists per game led by Ja'Kobi Gillespie averaging 4.2.

The Purple Aces are 6-13 in conference matchups. Evansville ranks seventh in the MVC with 13.3 assists per game led by Kenny Strawbridge averaging 2.6.

Belmont makes 47.6% of its shots from the field this season, which is 3.4 percentage points higher than Evansville has allowed to its opponents (44.2%). Evansville has shot at a 45.6% rate from the field this season, the same as opponents of Belmont have averaged.

The Bruins and Purple Aces face off Sunday for the first time in MVC play this season.

TOP PERFORMERS: Gillespie is scoring 17.5 points per game with 3.6 rebounds and 4.2 assists for the Bruins. Dia is averaging 17.1 points and 6.3 rebounds while shooting 42.9% over the last 10 games for Belmont.

Ben Humrichous is averaging 15.2 points for the Purple Aces. Yacine Toumi is averaging 10.4 points over the last 10 games for Evansville.

LAST 10 GAMES: Bruins: 7-3, averaging 79.3 points, 35.0 rebounds, 15.3 assists, 7.1 steals and 3.3 blocks per game while shooting 47.2% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 72.3 points per game.

Purple Aces: 4-6, averaging 69.4 points, 31.0 rebounds, 11.3 assists, 5.3 steals and 2.7 blocks per game while shooting 45.9% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 72.1 points.

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.