Gaels vs Stags Picks and Prediction: February 2nd Preview, Odds, Game Info, Injury Report and Where to Watch

It’s MAAC Day! Ever since Ej proclaimed Friday MAAC Day here at Bettingexpert, he has yet to lose his Friday college hoops best bet! Our college hoops expert has been on fire riding a 5-game win streak since last Friday, and he is heading to his hometown for his Friday night MAAC winner to end the week!

The Iona Gaels will try to spoil a trip for the Fairfield Stags in New Rochelle, NY, and Ej expects a high-scoring affair to take place in the city he grew up in on Friday night at Hynes Center.

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• Selection: Game Total Over 145.5 Points
• Best Odds: 1.91
• Bookmaker: bet365
• Stakes: 4/10

Odds are available as of February 2. Odds may now differ.

Go with our tip at bet365In this Article:

• Iona Gaels vs Fairfield Stags Tip
• Iona Gaels vs Fairfield Stags Game Info
• Iona Gaels vs Fairfield Stags Betting Lines
• Iona Gaels vs Fairfield Stags Trends
• Iona Gaels vs Fairfield Stags Stats & Form
• Iona Gaels vs Fairfield Stags Where to Watch
• Safer Gambling

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IONA GAELS VS FAIRFIELD STAGS PICK AND PREDICTION

Oh, the memories! I quite literally grew up less than 2 miles from the Iona campus, even though I went to Mamaroneck High School a town away. These are my stomping grounds, and I love going to Iona games whenever I get the chance to go back home. I currently live 4.8 miles from the Marist campus, so I always have an MAAC program near me somehow, HA!

Anyway. Since I have declared Friday MAAC Day around here, I have to turn to the game at Hynes because I can’t believe the line setters left us so much room on this total tonight. That says 145.5, people!

As we know, the oddsmakers use averages and numbers to arrive at the lines they toss on the board, but they never think about the head-to-head stuff or how teams are playing at the moment. Averages and rankings are for mathematicians, and knowing how teams match up on a given night has nothing to do with any of that stuff. Fairfield and Iona have only played each other once this year, so how each team played against 18 other teams in the campaign weighs nothing at all in the grand scheme of things.

Considering I have 50+ years of experience following the MAAC, gut feelings and how I see teams matching up is all I care about, and I will be honest and say I think Fairfield is about to march into New Rochelle and leave with a straight-up win tonight.

I know, that 2.75 on the Fairfield Moneyline is staring me in the face, and I certainly recommend that you grab the handful of points the line setters are putting on the board. I think the Fairfield +5 Handicap is a great play to make tonight along with this total, but let me tell you why I like this total a bit more.

The first meeting in Connecticut between these two teams was on December 1, and Iona smacked around the stags earning a big win, 78 – 67. Isn’t it ironic that the oddsmakers are issuing a 145.5 on the total tonight thinking that we will see a similar result on Friday night?

Sorry boys, you dropped the ball again, and Ej is here to bust you out again!

Since that loss to Iona on December 1, the Stags are 11 – 2, and a 66 – 64 loss to Quinnipiac this past Sunday is nothing to hang your head over. Quinnipiac might just go on to represent the MAAC in the NCAA Tournament this season… Yeah, I said that!

Before the Stags were held to 64 points last weekend, no one else had been able to slow them down in the least. In the eight previous games leading to that Quinnipiac affair, the Stags were averaging 85.8 PPG, and I don’t see why they won’t get right back on track against Iona tonight.

Iona just played that Quinnipiac program last week too, and all the Gaels did was pour out 87 points in a 4-point loss to the Bobcats on the road. I already told you they put up 78 points against this Stags team to start December, so I see both teams shooting the ball all night, and hopefully having a ton of success dropping buckets!

The Gaels’ top-7 scorers all convert better than 33% from behind the arc, and I think Greg Gordon is going to have a monster game for Iona tonight. I will call for a 23 & 7 night for the 6’ 5” guard from Chicago, and he better have a big night because Idan Tretout is likely sitting this game out tonight.

Tretout leads the Gaels scoring 14.3 PPG, so his absence will be noticed. I do think Iona will shoot well enough to find their 70+ points at home as a team, however, but Fairfield will topple the 80-point mark tonight.

81 – 75 Stags Win … You heard that here, too!

• Selection: Game Total Over 145.5 Points
• Best Odds: 1.91
• Bookmaker: bet365
• Stakes: 4/10

Go with our tip at bet365

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IONA GAELS VS FAIRFIELD STAGS GAME INFO

• Saturday, February 3rd
• Time: 00:05 UK Time
• Venue: Hynes Athletics Center, New Rochelle, NY

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IONA GAELS VS FAIRFIELD STAGS BETTING LINES

Iona vs Fairfield Betting Lines
bet365 Odds	Moneyline	Match Total	Handicap
Iona	1.48	Over 145.5	Gaels -5
Fairfield	2.75	Under 145.5	Stags +5

Odds are available as of February 2, 2023. Odds may now differ.

Go with our tip at bet365

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IONA GAELS VS FAIRFIELD STAGS TRENDS

• The Over is 5 – 0 in the Stags’ last 5 road games.
• The Over is 5 – 0 in the Stags’ last 5 Friday games.
• The Stags are 4 – 0 ATS in their last 4 games as a road underdog.

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IONA GAELS VS FAIRFIELD STAGS STATS AND FORM

The Stags convert 77.5% of their free throws, which ranks them 23rd in the country from the charity stripe.

Fairfield is 11 – 2 over the last 13 games, and their totals are 14 – 5 to the Over this season.

The Stags have one of the best road records in the country, sporting a 7 – 4 record in their travels this campaign

The Gaels are 11 – 2 vs the Stags in the last 13 meetings while having won the last 6 in the series.

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IONA GAELS VS FAIRFIELD STAGS WHERE TO WATCH

This game can be seen on ESPN+ for Subscribers at 7:05 PM EST (US).

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SAFER GAMBLING

At bettingexpert, we always take a safe approach to gambling. We’ll never bet more than we can afford or chase losses. For more advice, head to our Safer Gambling hub.