Winless Colgate and Drexel meet with one-game numbers and a near pick'em price

Colgate and Drexel each lost their opener on the road and meet Saturday at 2:00 PM ET in Philadelphia. Drexel is favored by 1.5 at home. Colgate won last year's meeting 90-83 at its own gym. The central question is how much to read into two ugly one-game profiles, and whether Drexel's offense or Colgate's defense gives way first.

Every season figure here comes from one game, so the ranks swing hard. Colgate lost 76-90 and Drexel lost 60-89. Drexel's net rating is -38.1 points per 100 possessions, rank 329. Colgate's is -21.7, rank 289. Both sit near the bottom of Division I, but one game cannot separate them from the rest of the field.

The sharpest contrast is Drexel's offense against Colgate's defense. Drexel scored 78.1 points per 100 possessions, rank 333, and turned the ball over on 27.3% of possessions. Its free-throw rate was .121 free-throw attempts per field-goal attempt. Colgate allowed 129.7 points per 100 possessions, rank 318, and opponents shot 55.6% effective field-goal. That is a weak defense meeting a weak offense. Colgate forced turnovers on 14.4% of possessions, so it may not exploit Drexel's giveaway problem the way a pressure team would.

Pace and personnel add little. Drexel played at 76.7 possessions per game, rank 47, and Colgate at 69.9, rank 130. In the opener Colgate's scoring ran through Andrew Alekseyenko with 25 points in 33 minutes, Parker Jones with 17 and Sam Wright with 15. Drexel's top five by minutes were more spread out. Latief Lorenzano-White's 11 points were the most among them, and Panagiotis Pagonis logged the most minutes with 28. Neither team has an injury to account for.

The market treats this as close to even with a small home edge. Drexel is -1.5 at -122, with Colgate -106, exactly where the spread opened. The total is 146.5, with the Over at -120 and the Under at -110, also unchanged. The moneyline is Drexel -135 and Colgate +108, essentially unchanged from the open. With no movement, the price reflects the original assessment rather than any new information.

The streaks point in opposite directions. Colgate has lost four straight on the road, while Drexel has won three straight at home and covered the spread in three straight at home. Those runs describe past results and sit awkwardly beside both teams' 0-1 starts. Both teams are 1-0 against the spread this season, and both of their openers went over the total, but that is one game each.

Overall the evidence is thin and mostly balanced. Drexel has the home court, the home streaks and the slight price edge. Its offensive and turnover numbers from the opener are among the weakest in the country, and Colgate's defensive numbers are poor as well, which leaves little to separate the teams.