Drake Bulldogs vs Wichita State Shockers Point Spread Picks

Drake is one of the great success stories of the season as it was picked to finish in the middle of the pack of the Missouri Valley Conference, but started the season 18-0 finished 25-4 with a 20-6-1 ATS record. Coach Darian DeVries has done a tremendous job with the Bulldogs, who did lose guard Roman Penn to a foot injury, but others have stepped up, including three players who averaged at least 14.5 points in two games in the MVC tournament. Isaac Brown also has done a great job taking over for Gregg Marshall and leading the Shockers to a 16-5 season although they finished just 9-9-1 ATS. Wichita State lost to Cincinnati in the American Athletic Conference tournament and the Shockers are only 3-7 ATS their past 10 games. Drake is 18-7-2 ATS its past 27 neutral-site games and 18-7-1 ATS overall following a loss. Wichita State is 0-3-1 ATS its past four NCAA tournament games and 9-24 ATS its past 33 neutral-site games as a favorite.  Drake averages 77.4 points per game while Wichita State scores 72.4, but the Shockers are not a good shooting team overall as they average 40.8 percent from the field overall and 34.2 percent from 3-point range. Drake's defense allows only 64.7 points per game and a .422 shooting percentage overall and just .316 from beyond the arc. Wichita State has gone UNDER five of its last seven games, including Saturday's 60-59 loss to Cincinnati that went UNDER by 23 points. The Bulldogs are 5-1 UNDER their past six versus teams with winning records and the Shockers have gone UNDER their last six NCAA tournament games. Also, Wichita State is 9-2 UNDER its past 11 games as an underdog and 9-3 UNDER against teams with at least .600 winning percentages. Play Drake and the UNDER.

Wichita State has clearly been the class of the Missouri Valley Conference over the last several years. The Shockers have won 24 games or more for each of the last seven years, and at 12-3, they appear to be headed for another strong campaign. However, this team is a small step down from what we have seen in the recent past, and the oddsmakers have made them a pricy take, and they are just 3-5-1 ATS in their last nine. Drake won't evoke the Shockers "A" game, but the Bulldogs, who have scored well, look to have enough offense to avoid the gigantic blowout. Take the points on Drake.

Wichita State won the first meeting 67-47 on Dec. 31 with Ron Baker leading the Shockers with just 14 points as they took advantage of Drake's woeful .372 field goal percentage. The Shockers had their own bad shooting game on Saturday as they lost at Illinois State 58-53 as a 12-point favorite while shooting 35.2 percent overall and 22.2 percent from beyond the arc. The two leading scorers in this game for the Shockers barely made it into double figures with Baker and Shaquille Morris scoring 10 points each. Illinois State was actually worse, making just 15-of-55 field goals and it still won the game. Drake lost at Northern Iowa 82-66 with Reed Timmer scoring 18 points but the defense allowed the Panthers to shoot a whopping 61.8 percent. Wichita State is 2-5 ATS after a loss and this is a ton of points to lay on the road after such an awful performance on Saturday. Grab the big points and play Drake.