Feb. 8: Georgia's Trey Thompkins plus 3 points vs. Xavier's Tu Holloway.
In 2011 one can pretty gamble on anything and that includes player prop bets. Granted, such props aren't up for every game in every sportsbook. But television games usually offer action and with Xavier and Georgia being played on ESPNU, there were props available with some of the online books.
Tu Holloway has been blowing up of late, scoring a ton of points and was therefore laying three points to a future NBA player in Trey Thompkins.
How did this thing play out? Pretty amazing actually.
Holloway was 0 for 5 from the field in the first half and was scoreless. Meanwhile Thompkins poured in 10 first-half points and actually was up 12-0 in the second half. Then when you add in the three points the Georgia star was getting, this thing was a 15-0 blowout.
Of course, Holloway was going to score some and probably narrow the gap a tad but coming back all the way was very very remote.
Or not.
Holloway finally got on the board by nailing a three-pointer with 13:28 left in the game but still much much much more than likely too little too late.
Again, or not.
Thompkins would not do all that much in the second half and fouled out of the game with a few minutes to go, thanks to extremely bad luck. Holloway drove the lane and Thompkins was actually pushed from behind by a Musketeer player, forcing Thompkins to fall and trip up Holloway who was in the paint going to the rim. That was the Bulldog big man's fifth foul sending him to the bench with a game-ending 14 points and putting Holloway on the line for a few more catch-up points. But this thing still was going to go the way of Thompkins as he still had a fairly comfortable margin.
Fast-forward to 25 seconds left and Xavier with pretty commanding 61-54 lead. Holloway also had 14 points, which was not going to be a win as he was the one laying three. But the Dawgs fouled him and he made both once again continuing to narrow that gap. The difference now was just one point --16-14 Holloway but with the spread factored in, it was really 17-16 Thompkins. The lead was at 9 so if UGA misses its next shot, more than likely the Dawgs don't foul and Thompkins stilll wins the thing in the end.
Well, Travis Leslie did miss for the home Dawgs and the score was 63-54 with 19 seconds to go. Not only did Georgia foul for some reason as this thing was now well in hand but it once again fouled Holloway who made both to finish with a game-high 18 points -- all coming in the final 13-plus minutes and pulling out the somewhat miraculous one-point prop play cover.
Wow!
