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Chattanooga vs. Furman prediction and odds for SoCon Championship

By Reed Wallach

Nov 20, 2022; Charleston, South Carolina, USA; Furman Paladins guard Joe Anderson (22) drives the ball in the first half against South Carolina Gamecocks forward Hayden Brown (10) at TD Arena. Mandatory Credit: David Yeazell-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 20, 2022; Charleston, South Carolina, USA; Furman Paladins guard Joe Anderson (22) drives the ball in the first half against South Carolina Gamecocks forward Hayden Brown (10) at TD Arena. Mandatory Credit: David Yeazell-USA TODAY Sports /
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A SoCon team is getting a team to the ‘Big Dance’ on Monday night.

No. 1 seed Furman enters the SoCon Finals as the favorite against No. 7 seed Chattanooga, last year’s champion. While the Mocs struggled throughout the regular season, that could be due to an injury to Jake Stephens, who missed 11 games in conference play.

Now, Stephens is back and has the Mocs on the verge of another NCAA Tournament berth, can they get over the hump against Furman, who won both regular season meetings?

Here are the odds for the title game:

Chattanooga vs. Furman odds, spread and total

Chattanooga vs. Furman prediction and pick

I’d be remiss not to mention last year’s SoCon title game between these two teams, an overtime thriller that ended on a David Jean-Baptiste half court shot at the buzzer that sent Chattanooga to the NCAA Tournament.

There are different characters in this game, but last year’s result will be looming over the game.

The key to this handicap is Stephens returning to the Mocs’ lineup for conference tournament after missing more than a month of action. The seven footer has scored 20 or more in each game and changes the trajectory of the team’s outlook.

Stephens is a monster offensively, but defensively it’s going to be tough to slow down the Paladins’ offense.

Furman is the best offense in the league by a wide margin, posting the leagues best effective field goal percentage and offensive rebounding rate. Stephens’ is as good of a rim protector as you can ask for in this conference, but the team’s perimeter defense is still struggling, allowing teams to shoot nearly 36% when he is on the floor.

Chattanooga is incredibly reliant on the 3-point shot, taking more than 51% of its shots from beyond the arc, but Furman’s perimeter defense does a great job of running teams off the arc, allowing the second lowest 3-point rate allowed in the SoCon.

The Paladins did just go to overtime in a thrilling game against Western Carolina on Sunday night, but I think they exact revenge on the Mocs and keep them at arms length en route to a title game cover.

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Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.