Game Information
#19 Saint Louis Billikens (22-1) vs La Salle Explorers (7-16)
Time: 2pm CT Saturday
How to watch: FanDuel Sports Network
DraftKings Odds
Spread: SLU -24.5
Total: 150.5
KenPom Projection
SLU 86, La Salle 62
The Saint Louis University Billikens look to continue their quest towards an Atlantic 10 regular season championship when they meet the La Salle Explorers in front of a sold-out Chaifetz Arena crowd this afternoon.
The Billikens are 10-0 in league play after the comeback win at Davidson on Tuesday, and they now lead the A10 by two full games over George Mason and VCU.
I’m not interested in laying the massive number for the full game, but I think SLU to cover the spread in the first half is a great look today. Literally every single time this season the Billikens have had a close call, they have come out the next game and pummeled their opponent early on to cover the first half spread.
They had the one-point win over Santa Clara back in November. The next night was the Stanford game that they lost; however, SLU was up by 11 at the break and easily covered the first half spread.
Right after the heartbreaking defeat to Stanford, the Bills traveled to Loyola Marymount for what was expected to be a close game with a 7.5 point spread. SLU came out hot and was up 16 at halftime.
Then there was a bit of a sweat against San Francisco where it was a 4-point game with just over a minute to play. Bethune-Cookman came to town for the next game, and SLU exploded for a 56-22 halftime lead.
Moving on to A10 play, the Bills came back to win at VCU after falling behind with a few minutes to go. The next game was a trip to La Salle to face these same Explorers, and SLU was up 20 at the half.
The Billikens then survived at Duquesne a couple weeks ago in holding on for an 81-77 win. What did they do next time out? They erupted for 58 first half points and a 32-point lead at the break in an absolute destruction of St. Bonaventure.
And then finally after coming from behind to beat George Washington in dramatic fashion, the Bills came out a few nights later and rolled to a 17-point halftime lead in blowing out Dayton.
The Billikens are coming out like a ball of fire in the first half after having close calls like they did at Davidson, so I expect them to put an absolute beatdown on La Salle for at least the first 20 minutes this afternoon.
Pick: SLU -13.5 in the first half at -115 on DraftKings (bet to -16.5)
Eric Sontag hosts Domesticated Gamblers every week on the STL Sports Central YouTube channel. Follow him on X @GamblingDads, and click here for his daily picks on all of our St. Louis area sports teams. Get Eric's picks for all sports by following him in the Action Network app with the username "esontag". Disclaimer