Tonight, it’s the quarterfinals in the Atlantic Sun Conference. Florida Gulf Coast will take on Bellarmine for the second time this year. Bellarmine defeated FGCU last time out. Will things be different tonight? Let’s see what the NCAAB odds for this matchup tell us!
Campbell Fighting Camels vs. Gardner-Webb Runnin’ Bulldogs
Friday, March 4, 2022 – 8:30 PM EST at Bojangles Coliseum
The Gardner-Webb Runnin' Bulldogs will play its first game in the Big South Tournament against the Campbell Fighting Camels. Those are some awkward and interesting team names, but that's the Big South for you.
Gardner-Webb is a three seed, taking on Campbell, who is a six seed. Still, this game will be played on a neutral court in Charlotte, NC. Campbell needed double overtime on Wednesday to defeat Presbyterian in their first game of the tournament. You would think Campbell might be a bit tired going into this game.
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If Campbell is tired, scoring might be difficult. Gardner-Webb is one of the best defenses in the Big South. The Runnin' Bulldogs have allowed an effective field goal percentage of 45.6 percent this season while holding opponents to 28.5 percent from deep and 47.6 percent from inside the arc.
Gardner-Webb also forces turnovers at 19.1 percent and allows just 26.7 percent offensive rebounds. Fouling can sometimes get high, but Campbell has not been consistent at getting to the line this season.
Campbell will take good shots, but again, it's going to be difficult against Gardner-Webb's defense. The Fighting Camels are shooting a 51.9 percent effective field goal percentage while only turning the ball over 16.3 percent of the time.
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From long-range, Campbell has hit 33.6 percent of shots, which is very average. From inside, Campbell shoots 52.7 percent but has their hands full knowing how great Gardner-Webb has been at defending the two.
Campbell also hits just 66.3 percent of foul shots this season. On the other hand, Gardner-Webb isn't going to "wow" you but should get plenty of opportunity against a poor Campbell defense. Gardner-Webb is still shooting an effective field goal percentage of 50.2 percent, which is slightly above the average in college basketball.
At the three-point line, the Runnin' Bulldogs have knocked down 32.7 percent, and from inside, Gardner-Webb has hit 51 percent of looks.
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The Runnin' Bulldogs also hit over 70 percent of foul shots and should be able to earn a few more offensive rebounds than Campbell. Turnovers are a bit high at 19.9 percent, but Campbell isn't really known for forcing a whole bunch of turnovers, averaging just 18 percent per game, which is below the average.
The Fighting Camels have held opponents to just 25.6 percent offensive rebounds, which is really the only bright spot for that defense. Campbell will limit foul shots, but ultimately, will struggle to defend against both key areas between the three-point line and inside the arc.
Opponents are knocking down 35.3 percent of threes against Campbell and 49.5 percent from inside the arc. The defense is strictly average and the average height of Campbell is 345th in the nation at 75.5 inches.
On top of that, Campbell only uses its bench 21.8 percent of the time. This team is not deep at all and just came off a two-overtime game on Tuesday.
Prediction
They say defense wins championships. I wouldn't be surprised to see Gardner-Webb win the Big South this season. The defense should perform at a high level against a Campbell offense that will likely start missing a ton of shots in tonight's game.
For our NCAAB pick, we'll be relying on an offense that has shot above average consistently this season. In this big game, the mistakes should be limited as the game carries on for Gardner-Webb. So let's take Gardner-Webb (-125 ) for tonight's play.
NCAAB Pick: Gardner-Webb (-125) with BetOnline (visit our BetOnline Review)
*The line and/or odds on picks in this article might have moved since the content was commissioned. For updated line movements, visit BMR’s free betting odds product.
