La Salle vs Lafayette 12/21/22 College Basketball Picks, Predictions, Odds

The Lafayette Leopards and the La Salle Explorers meet Wednesday in college basketball action from Tom Gola Arena. Lafayette comes into this matchup at 1-11 overall. The Leopards lost to Columbia in their last game. As for La Salle, they’re 5-7 following a loss to Cincinnati in their most recent outing. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.

Lafayette has only the one win over Central CT State this year. Otherwise it’s been losses to Miami-FL, St. John’s, Saint Joseph’s, UMBC, Penn, Penn State, Drexel, Cornell, Princeton, Quinnipiac and Columbia. 

Matched up against Columbia back on December 12, Lafayette was within five points at halftime. The Leopards posted just 18 second-half points and lost 57-45 however. CJ Fulton was the top scorer on 13 points and six boards. 

Over on the La Salle side, they managed a 3-3 run over their first six games with wins over Wagner, Queens NC and Binghamton. It’s been a 2-3 run since for the Explorers with losses to Temple, Drexel and Cincinnati. 

In the Bearcats matchup on Saturday, the Explorers were drilled 40-23 in the first half. La Salle got better in the second half but still lost 78-60. Josh Nickelberry put up 15 points, and Khalil Brantley added 12 points and seven assists.

PICK: I’m going to stay with La Salle. The Explorers were overmatched in their last game versus Cincinnati, shooting just 4-of-17 (23.5 percent) from 3-point range and coughing up 25 turnovers. La Salle shot a reasonable 40.3 percent from the field and had a 40-33 advantage in rebounding, though. Still, after consecutive games with 82 or more points scored in each, the Explorers have since scored 60 or fewer in consecutive games. This matchup against a struggling Lafayette team should be more conducive to scoring, and I like the Explorers to bag a big cover.