Cincinnati vs East Carolina 3/10/22 College Basketball Picks, Predictions, Odds

The East Carolina Pirates and Cincinnati Bearcats meet Thursday in the college basketball AAC First Round at the Dickies Arena. The East Carolina Pirates look for a win after splitting their last eight games. The Cincinnati Bearcats look to snap a five-game losing streak.

The East Carolina Pirates are averaging 69 points on 40.5 percent shooting and allowing 70.8 points on 43.3 percent shooting. Tristen Newton is averaging 17.4 points and 4.7 rebounds, while Vance Jackson is averaging 13 points and 1.3 assists. Brandon Johnson is the third double-digit scorer and JJ Miles is grabbing 2.3 rebounds. The East Carolina Pirates are shooting 33.5 percent from beyond the arc and 74.9 percent from the free throw line. The East Carolina Pirates are allowing 35.1 percent shooting from deep and are grabbing 31.7 rebounds per game.

The Cincinnati Bearcats are averaging 69.7 points on 40.7 percent shooting and allowing 65.9 points on 39.8 percent shooting. David DeJulius is averaging 14.5 points and 2.6 assists, while Jeremiah Davenport is averaging 13.5 points and 5.5 rebounds. Mika Adams-Woods is dishing 3.1 assists and Mike Saunders is grabbing 2.1 rebounds. The Cincinnati Bearcats are shooting 31.7 percent from beyond the arc and 66.5 percent from the free throw line. The Cincinnati Bearcats are allowing 31.6 percent shooting from deep and are grabbing 34.2 rebounds per game.

The Pirates are 7-24 ATS in their last 31 Thursday games and 4-1 ATS in their last 5 games overall. The Bearcats are 3-7 ATS in their last 10 neutral site games and 19-39-3 ATS in their last 61 games overall. The under is 5-0 in Pirates last 5 overall. The over is 7-3 in Bearcats last 10 overall. The underdog is 9-2 ATS in the last 11 meetings.

The Cincinnati Bearcats are the better team, and you’d assume they’d get their act together here, but they enter this tournament in brutal form. Also, East Carolina hung around with Cincy in both meetings back in January, and it is a profitable 16-13 against the spread on the year. Even in good form, the Cincinnati Bearcats don’t have the offensive firepower to pull away from teams, and it’s why they’re 10-17-3 ATS on the season. I’ll take a stab with the points.