UNC Wilmington vs James Madison 2/19/22 College Basketball Picks, Predictions, Odds

The James Madison Dukes and the UNC-Wilmington Seahawks meet in college basketball action from the Trask Coliseum on Saturday night.

The James Madison Dukes will look to build on a 71-63 win over Charleston last time out. Vado Morse leads the Dukes in scoring with 15.8 PPG along with 2.4 APG while Takai Molson has 12.3 PPG with 5.2 RPG and a team-high 2.6 APG this season. Charles Falden has 10.3 PPG to make up the trio of double-digit scorers for JMU this season while Justin Amadi has 9.7 PPG and a team-high 5.5 RPG to lead the Dukes on the glass. As a team, James Madison is averaging 76 PPG on 46.8% shooting from the field, 35.4% from three and 70.1% from the foul line while allowing 71.8 PPG on 43.9% shooting from the field and 32.6% from three this season.

The UNC-Wilmington Seahawks will hope to bounce back from a 79-55 loss to Towson last time out. Jaylen Sims leads the Seahawks in scoring and rebounding with 15.5 PPG and 5.4 RPG while Mike Okauru has 12.8 PPG and a team-high 2.4 APG and Shykeim Phillips also has 11.5 PPG and 3.6 RPG as well to cap off the trio of double-digit scorers for UNC-Wilmington this season. As a team, UNC Wilmington is averaging 71 PPG on 42% shooting from the field, 33.4% from three and 71.9% from the foul line while allowing 69.2 PPG on 44.8% shooting from the field and 37.2% from three this season.

James Madison is 4-9 ATS in their last 13 games overall and 1-5 ATS in their last 6 games following a win while the under is 5-0 in their last 5 games overall. UNC-Wilmington is 14-3 ATS in their last 17 games overall and 5-0 ATS in their last 5 Saturday games while the under is 7-3 in their last 10 games against a team with a winning record.

I can respect that James Madison will leave it all out there as they only have this game and their season finale against Towson before their season’s over. However, UNC-Wilmington still has something to play for as winning out would go a long way towards locking up the Colonial regular season title. Against anyone else, I may side with JMU and the points, but with UNC-Wilmington having so much at stake still, I have to go with the Seahawks laying the bucket here.