Spiders Ready to Spin Web

They scored a 69-67 win over the Pride as -12 favorites, so bettors weren’t happy with the result. It was their fourth against the spread loss from five games, so they haven’t been a good bet.

The only game they covered was a 68-57 win over Vermont, where they covered by 1½ points.

A shining light for the Terrapins is their defense, which has allowed just 65.6 points per game. It ranks outside the top 130 in four categories, but that’s impressive compared to the static offense.

Against a quality Richmond offense, the Terrapins will need to play lockdown defense. Our worry is with the three-point defense, which ranks 295th in the country. Richmond’s three-point shooting ranks 29th, so that’s an area they’ll need to improve.

We’re surprised betting online markets have them at -1. They are typically favored by the public, but the statistics are a concern and they haven’t faced a team as talented as Richmond.

Spiders Bounce Back

Losing to Drake was a bump in the road for the Richmond Spiders, but they bounced back in fine style with an 81-68 win over Hofstra.

They were underdogs against Drake and covered the +4½ spread, so bettors weren’t as disappointed. It was their third consecutive spread cover after losing to Utah State.

Despite the two losses on their schedule, we believe the only way is up. They showed intestinal fortitude when coming from behind to beat Hofstra and coach Chris Mooney was delighted with the effort.

“I’m proud of our effort tonight,” Mooney told RichmondSpiders.com. “Hofstra is a challenge to defend and we knew that they were going go on a run. I just hoped it wouldn’t have been to open the game.

“To win after being down 14 in the first half, I am really proud of our guys. Midway through the first half, we were able to impose our will on the game. Being able to do that is going to be important later in the season.”

The sportsbook should be giving the Spiders more credit. They rank inside the top 60 for field goal percentage and three-point percentage, which is where they’ll do most of the damage against Maryland.

Expect a heavy dose of three-point attempts and if they fall, it could be game over.

Maryland vs Richmond Pick

We can’t turn down getting +1 for the Richmond Spiders, who we believe are the better team.

They got their confidence back last time on court and that could be bad news for Maryland.

Richmond’s Tyler Burton is shooting above 51.4%, so there are many weapons on this team. Take the +1.

Pick: Richmond Tigers +1