North Dakota vs Western Illinois College Basketball Picks, Odds, Predictions 1/29/21

The Western Illinois Leathernecks and the North Dakota Fighting Hawks meet Friday in college basketball action from the Betty. 

Western Illinois enters this game at 2-11 so far. The Leathernecks have lost seven straight games, most recently to South Dakota. As for North Dakota, they’re 4-13 this season. The Hawks have lost consecutive games to South Dakota State. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place. 

Western Illinois started out 0-3 but then won two of their next three versus Mount St. Joseph and TN-Martin. Since then it’s been losses to DePaul, North Dakota State, South Dakota State and South Dakota for the Leathernecks over their last seven games. 

In the 84-74 loss to the Coyotes on Saturday, Western Illinois’ Colton Sandage put up 17 points with one rebound and one assist. Will Caries added 13 points with four assists’ nd Tammell Pearson doubled up on 11 points with 12 rebounds and four assists. 

Over on the North Dakota side, they went 1-8 in their first nine with a win over South Dakota. The Hawks beat UMKC and Oral Roberts in their next three games and managed to split with North Dakota before taking a pair of consecutive losses to South Dakota State. 

In the 85-74 loss to the Jackrabbits, North Dakota’s Tyree Ihenacho put up 17 points with five assists and three rebounds. Filip Rebraca added 15 points with eight boards, and Caleb Nero had 16 points, two assists and one rebound in 24 minutes on the floor. 

North Dakota is 0-5 ATS in their last five after an ATS win and 1-4 ATS in their last five Friday games. The Hawks are 4-1 ATS in their last five after a straight-up loss and the under is 5-1 in their last six Friday games. 

Meanwhile, the Leathernecks are 2-5 ATS in their last seven overall and 2-5-1 ATS in their last eight after an ATS loss. The over is 4-1 in Western Illinois’ last five road games and 4-1 in the last five overall.

PICK: I’m sticking with North Dakota. Granted, there’s not a lot of intrigue in a game featuring teams that are a combined 6-24 this season, but this should be a competitive matchup at least. The Hawks have notched a few good points totals lately, with 73 or more in each of their last three. If North Dakota can get off to a good start on offense here, I like them on a cover.