Mississippi State vs North Alabama College Basketball Picks, Odds, Predictions 11/10/2021

The North Alabama Lions and the Mississippi State Bulldogs meet in college basketball action from Humphrey Coliseum on Wednesday night.

The North Alabama Lions come into this season looking to build off of a 13-11 overall mark in 2020-21, finishing 7-8 in ASUN play. North Alabama took down North Florida in the quarterfinals and Florida Gulf Coast in the semis before falling to Liberty in the conference championship game. The Lions lose the services of leading scorer Mervin James, but do still bring back a pair of double-digit scorers in Payton Youngblood and Jamari Blackmon, with each putting up 10.1 PPG last season. C.J. Brim also returns after logging 8.6 PPG and 2.6 APG last season. This will be the final year of North Alabama’s D-I transition so building confidence going into the upcoming seasons with this group will be the goal.

The Mississippi State Bulldogs will be out to build off of an 18-15 overall record at season’s end. The Bulldogs went 8-10 in SEC conference play, defeating Kentucky in the second round of the SEC tournament before falling to Alabama in the quarterfinals. Mississippi State did well enough to earn an invite to the NIT, where the beat Saint Louis, Richmond and Louisiana Tech before falling to Memphis in the championship game. The Bulldogs did lose DJ Stewart to the pros, but leading scorer Iverson Molinar (16.7 PPG, 3.7 RPG, 2.3 APG) as well as top rebounder Tolu Smith (12.6 PPG, 8.4 RPG). But the excitement for Ben Howland’s team comes via the transfer portal as the Bulldogs brought in a trio of high-profile transfers, led by former UNC Tar Heel Garrison Brooks (10.2 PPG, 6.9 RPG), D.J. Jeffries (9.9 PPG, 5.1 RPG) from Memphis and Rocket Watts (7.7 PPG, 2.7 APG) from Michigan State. The Bulldogs also brought in Shakeel Moore (6.8 PPG, 2.5 RPG) from NC State.

North Alabama is 2-5 ATS in their last 7 road games and 4-0 ATS in their last 4 games overall while the under is 5-0 in their last 5 Wednesday games. Mississippi State is 4-9 ATS in their last 13 Wednesday games while the over is 5-2 in their last 7 games overall.

I get the allure of a dog catching a lot of points in a season-opening game, but North Alabama just isn’t in the same class as Mississippi State here. The Bulldogs were the better team at the end of last season, playing in the tougher conference, and Mississippi State’s additions via the transfer portal just bolster that even further. I just think it’s a mismatch from top to bottom, so give me Mississippi State laying the points here.