Bradley vs UIC 12/31/22 College Basketball Picks, Predictions, Odds

The UIC Flames and the Bradley Braves meet Saturday in college basketball action from Carver Arena. UIC enters this one at 9-5 overall. The Flames beat Illinois State on Wednesday. As for Bradley, they’re sitting at 9-6 so far and coming off a loss to Belmont. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.

UIC went 4-2 over their first six games this year, losing to Loyola IL and Fordham. Since then it’s been a 5-3 run with victories over Green Bay, Western Michigan, Prairie View, Northeastern and Illinois State along the way. 

In the Illinois State game Wednesday, the Flames were up 33-17 by halftime. UIC had to hustle a bit in the second half after a 34-22 deficit but they still won 55-51. Toby Okani was tops on 18 points with seven rebounds. 

Over on the Bradley side, they were 3-3 after six games with wins over UW-Parkside, Eastern Michigan and SEMO. It’s been a 6-3 run over the last nine with wins versus Merrimack, Northern Iowa, Missouri State, SIUE, Stonehill and Akron. 

Bradley held a 38-34 edge on Belmont during their game on Wednesday. The Braves were outscored 29-22 in the second half and took the tough loss 63-60. Rienk Mast topped the team with 12 points and four boards. 

PICK: I’ll probably stay with Bradley here. We should have an interesting matchup on our hands, though. The Braves had a bad second half against a talented Belmont team in their last outing, however they’ve been playing fairly well recently. Bradley has been at 60 points or fewer in four of their last six games however. As for UIC, they’ve scored just 109 combined points over their last pair so they could use an offensive kick as well. Overall I think this will be fairly close with a Bradley cover.