Maryland vs Niagara 11/7/22 College Basketball Picks, Predictions, Odds

The Niagara Purple Eagles and the Maryland Terrapins meet in college basketball action from the Xfinity Center on Monday night.

The Niagara Purple Eagles will try to bounce back from a disappointing 14-16 season in 2021-22, finishing with a 9-11 mark in MAAC conference play. As the 5-seed in the MAAC tournament, the Purple Eagles were upended by 4-seed Monmouth, ending their season. The Purple Eagles will have a fairly new roster in 2021-22, especially with the departure of Marcus Hammond (18.1 PPG, 4.7 RPG) and Jordan Cintron (8.6 PPG, 5.9 RPG), but Noah Thomasson returns after logging 10.8 PPG and 3.4 APG for the Purple Eagles last season. Niagara also brings in some reinforcements via the transfer portal, as Joe Kasperzyk brings 10.8 PPG from Southeast Louisiana while Aaron Gray brings in 15.6 PPG and 6.3 RPG from subdivision Southern New Hampshire. Sam Iorio also returns for Niagara in the front court after putting up 8.4 PPG and 6.1 RPG last season.

The Maryland Terrapins will try to rebound from a frustrating 2021-22 season, finishing at 15-17 overall, including 7-13 in Big Ten conference play. The Terps were given the #10 seed at the Big Ten tournament, losing to Michigan State in the second round and ending their season. The Terrapins lose three key contributors from last year’s unit, including Fatts Russell (15.1 PPG, 4.1 RPG, 3.7 APG), Eric Ayala (14.7 PPG, 4.6 RPG) and Qudus Wahab (7.7 PPG, 5.6 RPG) but do bring back Donta Scott (12.6 PPG, 6.2 RPG) and Hakim Hart (9.9 PPG) while also adding transfers like high-scoring guard Jahmir Young (19.9 PPG, 5.9 RPG, 3.7 APG) from Charlotte, Donald Carey (13.5 PPG, 4.4 RPG, 2.9 APG) from Georgetown and Patrick Emilien (12.5 PPG, 6.2 RPG) from St. Francis-BK to help turn things around for the Terrapins.

Niagara is 1-4 ATS in their last 5 Monday games and 1-5 ATS in their last 6 road games while the under is 11-5-1 in their last 17 road games. Maryland is 4-1 ATS in their last 5 home games while the over is 4-1 in their last 5 games overall.

I get the case to be made on either side in this game, but I’m looking at Maryland here. I don’t love this game with all of the turnover on both sides, but I feel that the loss of Hammond for Niagara was bigger as he was the heart and soul of that Niagara team. The Terps have some solid pieces in this year’s rotation and I just look for Maryland to take over and win this game convincingly.