City of Basketball Love

CoBL Staff (@hooplove215)
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Every day during the season on which there are games featuring the 10 Division I teams that CoBL features, we’ll have a Tipping Off running bright and early, letting you know everything you need to know about the matchups.

As always, we’ll start with a wrap of the previous day’s action, followed by a look at the complete slate; as always, thanks to KenPom’s awesome site for his predictions--though keep in mind this early in the season, his predictions aren’t quite as reliable:

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Last night’s results

Radford 86, Penn State 74
--Quick Report

Delaware 73, Fairleigh Dickinson 72
--Quick report
--Ross not thrilled as Delaware squeaks by FDU
--UDel notebook: Jeffers close to breakthrough

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Tonight’s games

Penn Quakers (3-1) vs. La Salle Explorers (3-0)
When: 7 p.m.
Where: The Palestra, Philadelphia, Pa.
Watch: Ivy League Digital Network
KenPom Prediction: La Salle, 72-71 (51%)

The Skinny: The Big 5 opener is guaranteed to end one way: with one team feeling really good about the way their season's started and one who'll be wondering about missed opportunities. The Quakers won their first three games for the first time in over 30 years before a setback at Washington on Friday, while La Salle overcame injuries to win their opening three games in rather convincing fashion. The Explorers' Jordan Price (29.3 ppg) is the current leading scorer in the nation, so the Quakers will have their hands full stopping him; on the flip side; Penn sophomore Sam Jones (15.0 ppg) can get hot from beyond the 3-point arc and at 6-7, could be a real matchup problem in this one.

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Lafayette Leopards (1-3) at Princeton Tigers (2-0)
When: 7 p.m.
Where: Jadwin Gymnasium, Princeton, N.J.
Watch: Ivy League Digital Network
KenPom Prediction: Princeton, 83-70 (88%)

The Skinny: It's a shooters' delight as Lafayette and Princeton square off in Jadwin, as both teams will do their best to spread the floor and bomb away early and often. The Tigers haven't been doing that quite as well as they would like to this point in the season (33.3 percent), and as such their two wins have been a little closer than they would have liked; it doesn't help that senior forward Hans Brase will miss the whole season, allowing opposing defenses to more closely guard the 3-point arc. The Leopards, while also known for their shooting propensity under Fran O'Hanlon, are being led right now by sophomore forward Matt Klinewski (18.3 ppg, 5.3 rpg), who's gone for 26 and 23 points in the team's last two games.

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Lehigh Mountain Hawks (0-4) at No. 12 Virginia Cavaliers (4-1)
When: 7 p.m.
Where: John Paul Jones Arena, Charlottesville, Va.
Watch: ESPN3
KenPom Prediction: Virginia, 77-58 (96%)

The Skinny: Desperate for some kind of momentum after losing their first four games, including an 88-61 loss at Columbia over the weekend, the Mountain Hawks are headed to the wrong place to try to get that going. KenPom's formulas have the Cavaliers ranked as the third-best team in the country, with both a top-10 offense and defense in terms of overall efficiency. Led by Malcolm Brogdon (15.4 ppg, 4.6 rpg) and Anthony Gill (13.0 ppg, 5.8 rpg), Virginia's pack-line defense is one of the toughest in the country to solve. The Mountain Hawks will need monster games from point guard Kahron Ross (8.5 ppg, 5.8 apg) and junior shooting guard Austin Price (15.8 ppg) to pull off what would be a massive upset.