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The 10th seed VCU Rams face the 7th seed St. Mary’s Gaels in a West Region first round NCAA Tournament game that will take place at a neutral site at the Vivint Smart Home Arena in Salt Lake City, Utah Thursday March 16th at 7:20 PM ET. St. Mary’s have received a four point handicap from the lines maker for this opening round match. The total line has been on downward move dipping to 126.5 at many sportsbooks.
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VCU is coming off a 70-63 loss to Rhode Island in their last game where they failed to cover the spread as a 1.5-point underdog. The total number of points scored in the game was 133, which was over the closing line of 132. Previous to the Rhode Island game the Rams had covered the spread in two straight games and in their last two games the total has gone over while the previous two games went under. VCU had won three straight games before the loss to Rhode Island.
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St. Mary’s is coming off a 74-56 loss to a ranked Gonzaga team in their last game where they failed to cover the spread as a 5-point underdog. The total number of points scored in the game was 120, which was under the closing line of 134. Previous to the Gonzaga game the Gaels had covered the spread in two straight games and in their last two games the total has gone under while in the previous two games the total went over. St. Mary’s had won six straight games before the loss to Gonzaga.
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Offensively, VCU is putting up 75 points per game on a 46.1% FG average. On the defensive side of things the Rams are allowing 66.3 points per game on a 41.8% FG average.
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St. Mary’s is putting up 72 points per game on a 49.6% FG average, which ranks 7th in the nation. On defense the Gaels are allowing 56.5 points per game, which ranks 2nd in the nation, on a 40.9% FG average.
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This is the first ever match up between these teams.
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VCU Rams at St. Mary’s Gaels Betting Trends<br />
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VCU is 2-4-1 against the spread in their last 7 games.
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The Rams are 12-3 straight up in their last 15 games overall.
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St. Mary,s is 5-2 against the spread in their last 7 games overall.
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The Gaels are 22-3 straight up in their last 25 games overall.
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The game total has gone under in 4 of Saint Mary’s last 6 games.
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<h2>
Public Money Consensus<br />
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In this NCAAB matchup between VCU and Saint Marys have the public leaning to the home Gael minus the 4 points with 63%. The over/under bettors are leaning slightly to this game going under the posted total line of 129 with 54% on board.
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