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11/19 Big Ten Preview: Maryland Faces Saint Louis

Preview all of Saturday’s Big Ten action.

NCAA Basketball: Binghamton at Maryland Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports

The Big Ten has a slow day on Saturday, which makes sense with college football still going on. However, that doesn’t mean there won’t be some interesting action to follow, as Maryland gets a marquee matchup against Saint Louis.

Let’s take a look at the schedule.

Game of the Day:

-Maryland Terrapins vs. Saint Louis Billikens

  • Time/TV: 1:00PM ET (ESPN News)
  • KenPom Spread: Saint Louis by 1

This is a new look Terp squad this season with the coaching transition and several new additions. Fortunately for fans, the results have been pretty good so far. Maryland has cruised to a 3-0 record to open the season.

However, things are set to get significantly tougher on Saturday.

That’s because, unlike Maryland’s first three opponents, Saint Louis is ranked in the top 250 on KenPom. In fact, the Billikens are ranked 32nd heading into Saturday’s matchup, which means Saint Louis is easily Maryland’s toughest competition to date. It’s a great opportunity for Kevin Willard to show this year’s squad is different.

Saint Louis also enters the game at 3-0, but has been testing, facing off against Memphis at home on Tuesday night. The win over the Tigers was a competitive one, going down to the final minutes of action. Saint Louis utilized its high-powered offense to get the job done, thanks to 22 points from Yuri Collins in the backcourt.

For Maryland, the key to winning this one is slowing down Saint Louis’ offense. It will be a challenging task and much is going to depend on Jahmir Young. If he can slow down Collins and make it difficult to get the offense initiated, there’s a chance Maryland can get the Billikens out of sync. Saint Louis relies on a lot of perimeter production, so defending things there will be significant as well.

Ultimately, this feels like a pretty competitive game that could go either way. However, Maryland is still growing as a team and this feels a bit early for the Terps to have cashed in. As such, I’m going to Saint Louis on Saturday.

  • Pick: Saint Louis

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Picks Record: 30-4-0