Winthrop at Arkansas Little Rock 12/3/20 - NCAA Basketball Picks & Predictions

The Winthrop Eagles and Little Rock Trojans meet up at the KFC Yum Center. Winthrop opened their season with a win over UNC Greensboro, winning 75-67 to improve to 1-0 on the season. Little Rock already has three games under their belt in the 2020-2021 season and is coming off of a nice win over Duquense. The Trojans were able to pull away late and improved to 2-1 on the year.

Winthrop shot the ball exceptionally well in their season opener shooting 40.7% from the field and 40% from beyond the arc. Winthrop was especially balanced on the offensive end in the win over UNC-Greensboro with 3 players scoring double figures, two of them coming off the bench. 

The Eagles were led in scoring by senior guard Chandler Vaudrin; Vaudrin scored 14 points, dished out 7 assists, and pulled down 8 rebounds all of which were team-highs. Off the bench, junior Adonis Arms scored 14 points and freshman forward Kelton Talford scored 12 points and grabbed four rebounds. Winthrop has a dangerous offensive team and can a ton of different guys can hurt you.

Little Rock has been busy in the early season and has already played three games averaging 72.3 points per game and shooting 49.7% from the field in those three contests. With four players averaging in double-figures, Winthrop isn’t a tremendously deep scoring attack but a few very talented scorers on their roster.

Leading the way for the Trojans is junior forward Nikola Maric he’s averaging 18 points and 6.3 rebounds per game and has yet to score less than 16 in any games. Junior guard Markquis Nowell, a guy who has been around the program for the last three years has gotten his season off to a fine start, despite shooting just 24.4% from the field. 

Nowell averaged 17.2 per game last season and shot nearly 40% from three but is averaging 13.3 points this season; he is dishing out a team-high 7.3 assists per game as well as pulling down 5.7 rebounds per game.

Little Rock is allowing 69.7 points per game this season ranking 134th in scoring defense in the country; the Trojans rank 155th in KenPom adjusted defense and have held oppoennts under 70 in their two wins. Winthrop allowed 67 in their opener but struggled on the defensive end last season allowing 71.5 points per game and ranking 239th in scoring defense. KenPom has the Eagles ranked 140th in adjusted defense.