Who’s playing
Oakland Golden Grizzlies @ Hawaii Warriors
Current records: Oakland 4-8, Hawaii 7-4
How to watch
What you need to know
The Hawaii Warriors will face the Oakland Golden Grizzlies in a holiday battle at 6:30 p.m. ET on Wednesday at SimpliFI Arena at the Stan Sheriff Center. The Golden Grizzlies have the home-court advantage, but the Warriors should win by -3.5 points.
Last Monday, Hawaii failed against Nebraska and lost 69-55. This was the Warriors’ lowest scoring game so far this season.
Unsurprisingly, given the score, Hawaii struggled to work together and finished the game with just five assists. This is the fewest assists they have managed all season.
Meanwhile, Oakland fought the good fight in its overtime game against Oregon State on Monday, but ended up with a less than desirable result. They fell 80-74 to the Beavers. The Golden Grizzlies led 68-56 in the second half, but were unable to maintain the lead.
Despite the loss, Oakland had strong performances from Allen Mukeba, who made all 10 of his shots, accumulating 21 points plus seven rebounds and two steals, and Buru Naivalurua, who had a double-double with 14 points and 12 rebounds . The dominant performance also gave Naivalurua a new career high in field goal percentage (85.7%).
Hawaii’s loss dropped its record to 7-4. As for Oakland, they’ve been on a rocky road recently after losing four of their last five games, which took a major dent in their 4-8 record this season.
This competition is shaping up to be an explosion: Hawaii simply cannot fail this season, making 47.4% of its field goals per game. It’s a different story for Oakland, as they’ve made just 41.5 percent of their field goals this season. Given Hawaii’s considerable advantage in this area, Oakland will need to find a way to close that gap.
Odds
Hawaii is a 3.5-point favorite against Oakland, according to the latest college basketball odds.
Oddsmakers had a good idea of the line for this one, as the game opened with the Warriors as 2.5-point favorites.
The over/under is 132.5 points.
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