North Carolina Central vs South Carolina State 3/3/22 College Basketball Picks, Predictions, Odds

The South Carolina State Bulldogs and the North Carolina Central Eagles meet Thursday in college basketball action from McDougald-McLendon Gymnasium. South Carolina State is 15-14 on the year. The Bulldogs lost to Howard in their last game. As for North Carolina Central, they’re currently 14-14 and coming off a loss to Norfolk State. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.

South Carolina State started out the year at just 3-8, but had worked their way up to 13-11 by February 12. The Bulldogs are 2-3 in their last five games. The losses in that time have come versus Morgan State, Norfolk State and Howard. 

On Monday versus Howard, the Bulldogs went into the second half trailing 26-32. SC State couldn’t do much in the second half on a 36-40 run and lost 72-62. Top scorer Jemel Davis put up 12 points with eight rebounds and two assists. 

Over on the North Carolina Central side, their year began at a sketchy 6-9 overall. The Eagles regrouped and hit an 8-2 run in January/February, though. Since then NC Central has lost to MD Eastern Shore, Howard and Norfolk State. 

Matched up against Norfolk State on Monday, the Eagles were drilled 17-49 in the first half. NC State got better from there on a 29-26 run but still lost badly 75-46. The only team double-digit scorer was Eric Boone on 18 points and six boards. 

NC Central is 0-4 ATS in their last four overall and 0-4 ATS in the last four after an ATS loss. The Eagles are 3-9 ATS in their last 12 at home.
Meanwhile, the Bulldogs are 12-5-1 ATS in their last 18 road games and 21-10-2 ATS in their last 33 overall. The under is 5-1 in SC State’s last six overall.

PICK: I’m going to stay with South Carolina State here. This one’s tricky, though; neither team has been great lately. That said, South Carolina State lost by 10 to Howard but they were at least competitive versus Norfolk State in a 63-59 road loss. As for NC Central, they’ve scored 67 points or fewer in three straight games and looked lost during the first half of their Norfolk State matchup. 

South Carolina State won 74-68 at home the last time these teams met up back on February 7. This matchup should be another tight one, but I still like the Bulldogs to power out the road cover.