UIC vs Northern Kentucky 1/20/22 College Basketball Picks, Predictions, Odds

The Northern Kentucky Norse and the UIC Flames meet in college basketball action from the Credit Union 1 Arena on Thursday night.

The Northern Kentucky Norse will look to bounce back from a 74-64 loss to Robert Morris last time out. Marques Warrick leads the Norse in scoring with 13.9 PPG while Trevon Faulkner has 12.5 PPG. Sam Vinson has 10.2 PPG with 4.3 RPG and a team-high 3.5 APG to lead the Norse in assists and round out the group of double-digit scorers for NKU this season while Adrian Nelson has a team-high 8.5 RPG to lead the Norse on the glass this season. As a team, Northern Kentucky is averaging 69.1 PPG on 39.7% shooting from the field, 33.1% from three and 67.4% from the foul line while allowing 69.3 PPG on 45.1% shooting from the field and 30.2% from three this season.

The UIC Flames will look to build on their three-game winning streak after an 80-63 win over Green Bay last time out. Damaria Franklin leads the Flames in scoring and rebounding with 17 PPG and 7.5 RPG while Zion Griffin has 10.9 PPG and 3.9 RPG and Kevin Johnson has 13.5 PPG with a team-high 5.3 APG to make up the trio of double-digit scorers for UIC coming into this matchup. As a team, UIC is averaging 69.7 PPG on 43.9% shooting from the field, 30.5% from three and 68.2% from the foul line while allowing 70.3 PPG on 45.9% shooting from the field and 31.3% from three this season.

Northern Kentucky is 2-12 ATS in their last 14 games overall and 1-7 ATS in their last 8 road games while the under is 4-0 in their last 4 games against a team with a losing record. UIC is 1-8 ATS in their last 9 games as a favorite and 0-4 ATS in their last 4 home games following three or more consecutive road games while the over is 4-0 in their last 4 games overall.

I get the allure of points with the Norse, but Northern Kentucky has been awful ATS this season and the losses have started to pile up as well for NKU. UIC isn’t a world-beater by any means, but they’ve been able to cover numbers more consistently than NKU. The issue is that I’ve seen the Flames fall flat often this season, so I’m going to side with the under as this just feels like a game that neither side ends up getting to 70 and is an offensive struggle from the opening tip to the final horn.