Belmont vs. Mercer
USC-Upstate did Belmont a huge favor last Thursday night. Their win over Mercer dropped the Bears into the six seed and bumped Campbell to fifth. Nothing against Mercer, but the Bruins match up much more favorably against the Bears than the Camels. Combine that with Campbell's five-game winning streak and they become a tough out.
Belmont features no-doubter Conference Player of the Year Alex Renfroe, and a solid supporting cast. About the only question mark Belmont faces going into the weekend is depth. The last three years the Bruins have been known for running 9-10 deep, each guy playing between 15 and 25 minutes. This year Belmont's bench is significantly shallower; the starting five all average over 27 minutes, with one bench guy at 15 and three more between 9 and 12.
That said, Mercer might give Belmont a chance to reserve some energy for ETSU. James Florence will take his shots, and Emerson will probably post a double-double, but with Mercer offensively it's feast or famine. Either Florence and Kuysner are hitting everything and Emerson is scoring inside, or nothing goes right. Defensively for Mercer it's mostly famine; they're the only team in the tournament to give up more than one point per possession.
Prediction -- Florence shoots his team out of the game early, then back into it late. Belmont's struggles at the free throw line keep it close, but not close enough. Belmont 77, Mercer 72
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