Cincinnati vs East Carolina 1/11/23 College Basketball Picks, Predictions, Odds

The East Carolina Pirates and the Cincinnati Bearcats meet in college basketball action from the Fifth Third Arena on Wednesday night.

The East Carolina Pirates will try to rebound from back-to-back losses after a 69-59 loss to Memphis last time out. Javon Small leads the Pirates in scoring and assists with 15.4 PPG and 5.6 APG while Brandon Johnson has 13.2 PPG along with a team-high 9.1 RPG to lead the Pirates on the glass up to this point in the year. RJ Felton also has 11.8 PPG to cap off the trio of double-digit scorers for East Carolina up to this point in the year. As a team, East Carolina is averaging 70.5 points per game on 41.5% shooting from the field, 32.3% from three point range and 67.5% from the foul line this season.

The Cincinnati Bearcats will be looking to bounce back from a 72-59 loss to Houston in their last game. David DeJulius leads the Bearcats in scoring with 14.9 PPG and 3.5 APG while Landers Nolley II has 14.7 PPG with 4.5 RPG as well this season. Viktor Lakhin has 13.1 PPG with a team-high 7.7 RPG to lead the Bearcats on the glass and Mika Adams-Woods has 10.2 PPG and 3.5 APG this season to round out the group of double-digit scorers while leading the way in assists for Cincinnati so far this season. As a team, Cincinnati is averaging 77.8 points per game on 45.5% shooting from the field, 35.5% from three point range and 69.3˜% from the foul line up to this point in the year.

East Carolina is 4-0 ATS in their last 4 games following a loss and 4-0 ATS in their last 4 games against a team with a winning record while the under is 7-0 in their last 7 games following an ATS win. Cincinnati is 9-2 ATS in their last 11 games overall and 8-1 ATS in their last 9 home games while the under is 5-1 in their last 6 games overall.

I get the case to be made for either side in this game, but I’m looking at East Carolina and the points here. The Pirates have a history of keeping these games fairly respectable, and at the end of the day, I think this is a game where Cincinnati wins, but East Carolina covers. Give me the Pirates and the points here.