Charlotte vs Florida International College Basketball Picks, Odds, Predictions 1/29/21

The FIU Panthers and the Charlotte 49ers meet Friday in college basketball action from Halton Arena. 

FIU enters this one at 8-8 so far. The Panthers have lost five games in a row, most recently to Marshall. As for Charlotte, they’re 7-7 this year. The 49ers are coming off a win over Florida Atlantic in their last game. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place. 

FIU began their year on a nice 5-1 run with a loss to North Florida as the only blemish. The Panthers went 3-3 in their next six games with wins over Carver, Old Dominion and Middle Tennessee. Since then it’s been two losses to Florida Atlantic and two losses to Marshall. 

In the 89-72 loss to the Herd on Saturday, FIU’s Javontae Hawkins put up 20 points with two rebounds and two assists. Antonio Daye added 18 points with eight rebounds and six assists, and Dimon Carrigan hauled in 10 rebounds with four points in 25 minutes. 

Over on the Charlotte side, they began the year at 1-3 before notching wins over Davidson, NC A&T and George Washington. After a split with Western Kentucky and a loss to Belmont Abbey, Charlotte has split a pair with both UAB and Florida Atlantic in their last four games. 

In the 74-71 win over the Owls on Saturday, Charlotte’s Jahmir Young posted 25 points with four rebounds and Jordan Shepherd put up 19 points with two boards and two assists. Jhery Matos added 10 points, three rebounds and one assists in 37 minutes of work. 

The 49ers are 15-36 ATS in their last 51 after an ATS win and 1-7 ATS in their last eight after an ATS win. Charlotte is 1-5 ATS in their last six Friday games and the under is 11-4 in their last 15 overall. 

Meanwhile, the Panthers are 3-1-1 ATS in their last five Friday games and 0-5 ATS in their last five overall. FIU is 0-4 ATS in their last four after a straight-up loss and the under is 4-1 in their last five Friday games. 

PICK: I’m going to stick with Charlotte. This should be a pretty interesting and fairly well-balanced matchup, though. In any case, the Panthers have scored pretty poorly over their last seven games, notching 68 or fewer in five of those games. Charlotte has had some real duds themselves (like 37 versus UAB) but they should be able to keep the pace here. I like this one to be close most of the way with the 49ers eking out a cover.