Northwestern State vs Houston Baptist 2/10/22 College Basketball Picks, Predictions, Odds

The Houston Baptist Huskies will travel to Prather Coliseum to take on the Northwestern State Demons this Thursday night in College Basketball action.

The Houston Baptist Huskies snapped their 3-game losing streak and improved to 7-13 on the season after defeating the SE Louisiana Lions, 93-80, this past Saturday. Houston Baptist trailed by a 50-44 margin at halftime, however, the Huskies were outstanding offensively in the 2^nd half and was able to pull away after taking an 83-71 lead with 3:08 left in regulation. Houston Baptist shot 45.9% from the field & 30.0% from beyond the arc while allowing SE Louisiana to shoot 46.4% from the field & 29.2% from beyond the arc. Leading the way for the Huskies was Darius Lee who had 32 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists, & 6 steals.

On the season, Houston Baptist is averaging 72.5 ppg on 44.5% shooting from the field. The Huskies are averaging 6.5 three-pointers per game on 31.9% shooting from beyond the arc. Offensively, Houston Baptist has been led by Darius Lee (17.1 ppg, 8.2 rpg, 2.8 apg, 2.3 spg), Brycen Long (9.2 ppg, 2.3 rpg, 2.0 apg, 1.3 spg), Sam Hofman (8.8 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 1.1 apg), & Jade Tse (8.2 ppg, 1.7 rpg, 2.5 apg, 1.1 spg).

Defensively, Houston Baptist is allowing their opponents to average 73.8 ppg on 45.7% shooting from the field. The Huskies have a rebound margin of 5.2 and a turnover margin of -1.6.

The Northwestern State Demons had their 3-game winning streak snapped and dropped to 7-17 on the season after being defeated by the McNeese Cowboys, 93-84, this past Saturday. Northwestern State struggled defensively against McNeese and could not fight back after the Cowboys took an 88-82 lead with 2:19 left in regulation. Northwestern State shot 44.4% from the field & 40.9% from beyond the arc while allowing McNeese to shoot 52.5% from the field & 47.6% from beyond the arc. Leading the way for the Demons was Kendal Coleman who had 16 points, 7 rebounds, 2 blocks, & 1 steal.

On the season, Northwestern State is averaging 73.3 ppg on 44.7% shooting from the field. The Demons are averaging 7.5 three-pointers per game on 35.6% shooting from beyond the arc. Offensively, Northwestern State has been led by Kendal Coleman (14.8 ppg, 9.4 rpg, 1.2 spg, 1.1 bpg), Carvell Teasett (13.5 ppg, 1.8 rpg, 3.3 apg), Cedric Garrett (7.8 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 1.6 apg), & LaTerrance Reed (6.8 ppg, 1.9 rpg, 2.0 apg).

Defensively, Northwestern State is allowing their opponents to average 81.2 ppg on 47.4% shooting from the field. The Demons have a rebound margin of -1.6 and a turnover margin of -1.4.

The Huskies are 2-8 ATS in their last 10games after scoring more than 90 points in their previous game & 1-4 ATS in their last 5 Thursday games. The Demons are 3-0-1 ATS in their last 4 games following a straight up loss & 6-1-1 ATS in their last 8 games overall.

Houston Baptist picked up a nice win at home against SE Louisiana, however, this is still a team that has lost 7 of their last 10 games and have had no answers on the defensive end this season as they come into this game ranked 293^rd in scoring defense & 304^th in defensive FG%. Northwestern State has also struggled on the defense end, however, they have an offense that has been able to put up points, ranking 127^th in scoring offense & 147^th in FG%, and as the Demons are 5-2 at home this season, I think Northwestern State does enough to cover this mid-range home spread. Good Luck!