The Albany Great Danes take on the Sacred Heart Pioneers in Fairfield, CT. Tip-off is set for 11 a.m. ET on ESPN+.
Sacred Heart is favored by 1 point on the spread with a moneyline of -110. The total is set at 153.5 points.
Here are my Albany vs. Sacred Heart predictions and college basketball picks for December 18, 2024.
Albany vs Sacred Heart Prediction
My Pick: LEAN Sacred Heart +1.5
My Albany vs Sacred Heart best bet is on the Pioneers spread, with the best odds currently available at BetRivers. For all of your college basketball bets, be sure to find the best lines by using our live NCAAB odds page.
Albany vs Sacred Heart Odds
| Albany Odds | ||
|---|---|---|
| Spread | Total | Moneyline |
+1 -118 | 153.5 -110 / -110 | -110 |
| Sacred Heart Odds | ||
|---|---|---|
| Spread | Total | Moneyline |
-1 -102 | 153.5 -110 / -110 | -110 |
- Albany vs Sacred Heart spread: Sacred Heart -1
- Albany vs Sacred Heart over/under: 153.5 points
- Albany vs Sacred Heart moneyline: Sacred Heart -110, Albany -110
- Albany vs Sacred Heart best bet: LEAN Sacred Heart +1.5
Spread
I'm taking the Pioneers on the spread.
Moneyline
I'm avoiding the moneyline.
Over/Under
I'm avoiding the moneyline.
My Pick: LEAN Sacred Heart +1.5
Albany vs Sacred Heart College Basketball Betting Preview
There are a ton of injuries to track for this game.
Albany’s Byron Joshua missed the last game against Drexel for an unknown reason. The starting point guard is a huge two-way player for the Danes (12 PPG, 3 APG, 2 SPG) and the team’s second-most impactful player by On-Off Net Rating (+28).
Author's note: Byron Joshua will play against Sacred Heart on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the Pioneers have been without Aidan Carpenter and Tanner Thomas for the past few weeks. These two are a staple of Sacred Heart’s attack, which uses spacing concepts to open up driving lanes for a group of sizey wings.
Between two fully healthy rosters, I’d likely make the Pios a four-to-five-point home favorite over the Danes. But handicapping the injuries makes things a little more tricky.
These teams play similar styles. Both are transition-and-rim-reliant offenses, although the Pioneers leverage more secondary actions (specifically handoffs) to pop players out into space. Meanwhile, Albany likes to feed Justin Neely in the post and Amar’e Marshall in isolation.
Both teams struggle to defend in transition. Sacred Heart has been better on a per-possession basis, but Albany spends less time in transition because the Danes are the better ball-handling team.
Albany could easily win the shot-volume battle by winning the turnover battle, but Joshua would need to play, given he’s the team’s primary ball-handler and point-of-attack defender — he’s forcing two steals per game despite his diminutive stature.
However, Sacred Heart is the much better interior defense, partially because the Pioneers pack it in, and partially because Albany lacks any semblance of paint and rim protection. The Danes allow nearly 38 paint points per game (ninth percentile) and get constantly shredded at the rim because they have zero size.
Albany struggles to defend those handoff actions that Sacred Heart loves to use (1.07 PPP allowed, ninth percentile). While I’m inclined to believe the Pioneers would struggle to score in those sets without Carpenter or Thomas, they have several other wing/forward ‘tweener options who could exploit the Danes on downhill drives — including Anquan Hill, Amiri Stewart, Mekhi Conner and Bryce Johnson.
For what it’s worth, Thomas might have been harming the Pioneers. They are 3-2 in games without him, and the team’s Net Rating is 20 points higher with him off the court than on.
Therefore, if all three key players are out for this matchup, I think Sacred Heart can better replace the losses.
I can’t recommend a wager on this game unless I know which players are in or out.
But if I absolutely had to, I’d play the Pioneers, who have the necessary depth to replace any missing wing production.
