NC State vs Vanderbilt 12/17/22 College Basketball Picks, Predictions, Odds

The Vanderbilt Commodores and the NC State Wolfpack meet Saturday in college basketball action from United Center. Vanderbilt is 5-5 this year and coming off a close loss to Grambling State. As for NC State, they’re 9-3 overall. The Wolfpack beat Furman in their last game. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.

Vanderbilt went 3-3 over their first six games with wins over Temple, Morehead State and Fresno State. The Commodores have since gone 2-2, bagging victories against Wofford and Pittsburgh. 

In the Grambling State game back on December 9, the Commodores trailed 27-24 by halftime. Vanderbilt posted a 38-37 edge in the second half and ended up losing 64-62. Tyrin Lawrence led the team on 15 points and five rebounds. 

Over on the NC State side, they won their first four games of the season before taking a loss to Kansas on November 23. NC State is 5-2 since then with wins over Dayton, Butler, William & Mary, Coppin State and Furman. 

Matched up against Furman on Tuesday, the Wolfpack jumped out to a 48-29 edge by halftime. NC State kept the pace going in the second and cruised to the 92-73 win. Terquavion Smith led the way on 24 points and five assists. 

PICK: I’m going to stay with NC State. The Wolfpack are coming off a very well-balanced effort in the win over a decent Furman team on Tuesday. NC State had five different players in double-figure scoring and shot 47 percent from the field overall. The Wolfpack have scored very well overall this year, hitting 73 or more points in all but one game. As for Vanderbilt, they’ve had some tricky matchups lately and haven’t been quite so dynamic on the scoreboard. The Commodores have been at 65 points or below in three of their last four games and I don’t think they’ll get past that mark here either.