Texas State vs Rice 12/4/22 College Basketball Picks, Predictions, Odds

The Rice Owls and the Texas State Bobcats meet Sunday in college basketball action from Strahan Coliseum. Rice is 5-2 on the year and coming off a win over Prairie View A&M. As for Texas State, they’re sitting at 5-3 so far. The Bobcats beat Lamar in their last game. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.

Rice went just 1-2 over their first three games, beating St. Thomas between losses to Pepperdine and Middle Tennessee. The Owls then hit a win streak over Georgia Southern, Western Michigan and Houston Baptist. 

Rice kept their run going Wednesday with a matchup versus Prairie View. The Owls were down 32-25 at the break but stormed back for a 45-30 second-half run and a 70-62 win. Tops in scoring was Quincy Olivari with 27 points. 

Over on the Texas State side, they were 2-2 over their first four games with wins over Mid-America Christian and Rhode Island alongside losses to Washington State and UTSA. Texas State beat Cal and Southern Utah before another loss to Hawaii. 

On Thursday versus Lamar, the Bobcats scored 28 points in the first half and 37 more after the break in a 65-55 win. Leading the scoring was Mason Harrell with 18 points and seven assists. Davion Sykes added 12 points and eight boards. 

PICK: I’m going to stick with Rice. You could probably make a case either way here, though. The Owls had a sketchy first half in their last game versus Prairie View, but to their credit the team pulled through with a comeback win. Rice posted 37 rebounds and 12 team assists in that one but shot just 4-of-20 (20 percent) from 3-point range. 

As for Texas State, they haven’t exactly been blowing up the scoreboard this year—they’ve scored more than 65 points just three times so far. That said, the Bobcats defense is probably talented enough to give Rice some trouble. Should be a good game.