The Gold Sheet

THE PLAY: Total Over 147.0 (-110)

Both of Tuesday's NIT semifinals went down to the wire, and we're expecting to see another entertaining game on Thursday. Both the Mocs and Anteaters enjoyed the sight lines at Hinkle Fieldhouse as they combined to shoot 18-for-39 (46.1-percent) from three-point range in their respective wins over North Texas and Loyola-Chicago. Both offenses should find success again on Thursday. Chattanooga has made this run without senior forward Frank Champion, who was injured in practice prior to the SoCon Tournament. Chattanooga's offense has continued to hum without him, but the interior defense is a different story. Champion's replacements in the paint are both freshmen - Collin Mulholland and Latif Diouf. Mulholland can provide a spark on offense, but his defense is still a work-in-progress. Loyola center Miles Rubin went a perfect 7-for-7 from the floor against the Mocs on Tuesday. That is a major area of concern against an Irvine team that is going to look to pound the paint. The Anteaters are No. 270 in three-point shot attempts, opting to work through 7-foot-1 senior Bent Leuchten. The German has played in 111 games in his career in Irvine, and will hold a massive edge in experience against his interior opposition. Irvine's offense is going to experience a notable drop-in-class from what they saw on Tuesday against North Texas. The Mean Green's defense was top-60 in the country in efficiency, effective field goal shooting allowed, turnovers forced, three-point shooting allowed and two-point shooting allowed. With the exception of two-point shooting allowed, Chattanooga's defense is outside the top-225 in all of the categories we just mentioned. We've got a point spread under five, so with the expectation that free throws are going to be important, we've got two strong teams at the foul line. Both the Anteaters and Mocs are top-35 in the country in free throw shooting (Irvine is shooting over 80-percent). We're expecting both offenses to enjoy success in this matchup.