Seton Hall a 4.5-Point Underdog at Home to Maryland With Myles Powell Out

• Seton Hall is a 4.5-point home underdog versus No. 7 Maryland on Thursday night (7:00 PM ET, Dec. 19)
• The Pirates will be without Player of the Year candidate Myles Powell due to a concussion
• Their second leading scorer, Sandro Mamukelashvili, is also out with a broken hand

Things are looking bleak for the Seton Hall Pirates (6-3, 3-1 home). Their offensive centerpiece Myles Powell is out indefinitely with a concussion, they’ve suffered back-to-back losses, and they’re no longer ranked inside the AP top-25.

The shorthanded Pirates return home Thursday night (7:00 PM ET, Dec. 19) to face No. 7 Maryland (10-1, 0-1 away) and, to no one’s surprise, they’ve opened as 4.5-point underdogs.

No. 7 Maryland vs Seton Hall Odds

Odds taken Dec. 17.

Both Seton Hall and Maryland have been inconsistent for bettors so far this season against the spread. The Pirates are 5-5 ATS, including 1-2 as an underdog, while the Terps are 5-6 versus the number.

Seton Hall is 0-2 versus ranked opposition, and will be hard pressed to generate much offense without their number one option.

Firing Blanks

The Pirates will be without not only Powell, but their second leading scorer Sandro Mamukelashvili as well due to a broken hand. They’re the only two players on the Seton Hall roster who average double-digit points per game, and Powell puts up twice as many field goal attempts as any of his teammates.

Seton Hall head coach Kevin Willard said Myles Powell had a really bad concussion.

"He asked me during the game 'Why are we practicing at Rutgers?'"

— Brian Fonseca (@briannnnf) December 14, 2019

With Powell out of the lineup Myles Cale is expected to shoulder some of the offensive load, but he failed miserably in that role last time out. Cale made just two of his team-high 10 attempts versus Rutgers after Powell left the game, and for the season is shooting only 41%. He averaged a career best 10.2 points per game as a sophomore, but so far in his junior campaign, he’s putting up only 6.8 points per game.

The Terps are for Real

Maryland opened the season on fire. They were a preseason top-10 2020 NCAA Tournament odds contender and reeled off wins in each of their first 10 games. Last time out, they suffered their first loss of the season to Penn State, but their resume is still impressive. They have victories over six KenPom top-100 teams, three of which were by double-digits.

"The Program is bigger than all of us"

Maryland Basketball is forever#FearTheTurtle pic.twitter.com/5w4s98zxwL

— Maryland Men’s Basketball (@TerrapinHoops) December 17, 2019

The offense features four players who average 10+ points per game, and they’re one of the best rebounding teams in the nation. The Terps rank 9th in total rebounding, and 10th on the offensive glass, but their biggest strength is on defense.

Maryland has limited opposing offenses to a 37.5% shooting percentage and just 62.2 points per game. Five of 11 opponents have failed to reach 60 points against them, and only 10 teams in the country are better at defending two-point field goals. Their stingy defense inside the arc will be extremely beneficial on Thursday, given that the Pirates primary outside shooting threats will be sidelined.

Make Money with Maryland

There’s a much bigger gap between these two teams than the point spread currently indicates. Without Powell, and Mamukelashvili to a lesser extend, Seton Hall is going to struggle mightily on offense. They don’t have enough firepower to threaten Maryland’s elite defense, and the Terps should have no issue getting buckets at the other end.

Maryland hasn’t been a cover machine this season, but blowout wins over Notre Dame and Marquette this month should give potential backers the confidence to pull the trigger.