Saint Joseph's Hawks vs. Dayton Flyers January 4 Betting Preview

The Saint Joseph’s Hawks will look to pull their record to .500 on Wednesday evening when they take on the Dayton Flyers. Coach Billy Lange will seek their second road victory of the season and first since November 30 when they defeated the Quakers of Pennsylvania. 

The Hawks have won three of their last five games this season behind strong play from sophomore guard Erik Reynolds. 

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An All-Atlantic 10 freshman team member last season, Reynolds has pumped up his scoring numbers to 18.5 points per game this season while shooting 39.4 percent from behind the three-point line. Dayton’s ninth-ranked effective field goal percentage defense will be tested in this game regardless of what the metrics say. 

The Hawks don’t rank highly in Haslametrics or Kenpom, but they do have individual talents in Reynolds and Cameron Brown, who is averaging over 14 points per game. 

Dayton Head Coach Anthony Grant will also see a familiar face when the Hawks come to town on Wednesday as Lynn Greer III returns to Dayton. 

Greer was a rarely-used guard on last season’s team as a freshman before transferring in January. He appeared in ten games for the Flyers last season and averaged under three points per game in nine minutes of action per night. 

This season, Greer is the third leading scorer for Coach Lange at 10.3 points per contest. Greer is still seeking the shooting ability that his father possessed as a star at Temple in the late 90’s and early 2000’s when he scored nearly 2,100 points.

For the hometown Flyers, things are taking a turn for the better after injuries ravaged this team early in the season. 

Fortunately, star center DaRon Holmes has not suffered any health concerns that have kept him off the floor and has been on an absolute tear lately. 

The 6’10 sophomore has to be one of the early frontrunners for Atlantic 10 Player of the Year after averaging 25.6 points and 9.6 rebounds during the Flyers current five-game streak. 

So far this season, Dayton has been middle of the road overall against the spread at just 7-8 overall. However, the Flyers have covered in each of their last five contests and six of their last eight. 

Over their last five games, Grant’s club is destroying the anticipated margin, outperforming the number by 14.4 points per game while going over the total in each game during that span.

While the Hawks have strong individual talents that could certainly lead them to a road victory, few mid-major teams are on a roll such as the Flyers. Anthony Grant’s team has found their groove and their star player seems to be primed to lead them to a possible conference championship.