The Southeast Missouri State Redhawks and the Eastern Kentucky Colonels meet Saturday in college basketball action from EKU Alumni Coliseum. 

Southeast Missouri State enters this game at 4-9 on the year. The Redhawks are 1-3 in their last four games and are coming off a loss to Morehead State. As for Eastern Kentucky, they’re 13-2 this season. The Colonels have won eight straight games, most recently over Tennessee-Martin. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place. 

Southeast Missouri State started out the year at 2-2 before a four-game skid versus Evansville, TN-Martin, Indiana State and Tennessee Tech. Since then the Redhawks are 2-3 with wins over Tennessee State (twice) and losses to Belmont and Morehead State (twice). 

In the Thursday loss 76-65 to Morehead State, Southeast Missouri State’s DQ Nicholas led the team on 17 points with three assets and four rebounds. Nolan Taylor added 13 points with six rebounds and two assists, and Chris Harris chipped in 10 points, three rebounds and two assists. 

Over on the Eastern Kentucky side, their season began at 5-2 with losses to Xavier and Morehead State. Since then it’s been eight straight victories for the Colonels. They’ve taken out CU Harrodsburg, High Point, Eastern Illinois, Austin Peay, Jacksonville State, Tennessee Tech, Eastern Illinois and TN-Martin in that time. 

In Thursday’s 113-73 win over the Skyhawks, Eastern Kentucky’s Wendell Green led the way on 25 points with four assists and two rebounds. Michael Moreno added 23 points, and both Curt Lewis and Devontae Blanton chipped in 19 points apiece with a combined nine boards. 

Eastern Kentucky is 12-3-2 ATS in their last 17 home games and 21-5-2 ATS in their last 28 overall. The Colonels are 2-0-2 ATS in their last four Saturday games and the over is 4-1 in their last five overall. 

Meanwhile, the Redhawks are 6-2 ATS in their last eight road games and 5-1 ATS in their last six road games versus a team with a winning home record. The under is 7-2 in SEMO’s last nine overall and 5-1 in their last six road games. 

PICK: I have to stick with Eastern Kentucky here. The Colonels are on fire right now and scoring quite well. EKU notched 67 points in the second half alone during their last game, and has hit 90 or more in each of the last three outings. The Redhawks have been at 66 or below in each of their last four games. I don’t see SEMO keeping pace here if Eastern Kentucky gets going on the scoreboard.