Florida Atlantic vs UAB 1/5/23 College Basketball Picks, Predictions, Odds

The UAB Blazers and the Florida Atlantic Owls meet Thursday in college basketball action from FAU Arena. UAB is 12-2 overall this year. The Blazers took out Charlotte in their last game. As for Florida Atlantic, they’re 12-1 on the season after a win over North Texas. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.

UAB went 7-2 over their first nine games with losses to Toledo and West Virginia. Since then it’s been a string of five wins over South Carolina, Southern U, Charlotte, UTEP and UTSA. 

In the UTSA game on Saturday, the Blazers drilled the Roadrunners 52-29 in the first half. UAB cruised from there in a 90-67 win. Jordan Walker put up 31 points to lead the team, and Eric Gaines added 18 points with seven assists. 

Over on the FAU side, they lost to Ole Miss in their second game. Otherwise it’s been wins over Lynn, Florida, Bryant, Detroit, Albany, South Alabama, Eastern Michigan, FGCU, St. Thomas FL, FIU, Northern Kentucky and North Texas. 

Matched up against North Texas last Thursday, the Owls were up 26-22 by halftime. Florida Atlantic posted 24 points in the second half during a 50-46 win. Leading scorer Vladislav Golden doubled on 11 points with 13 rebounds. 

PICK: I’ll probably stick with UAB here. This should be a great matchup however, and you could probably make a great case either way. The Blazers have been scoring very well all season long; they’ve hit 70 or more points in every outing, and 76 or more in each of their last five. As for FAU, they’ve held opponents to 53 or fewer points in four of their last five games so this one could get very interesting. I like UAB on the cover a little better, but it’s a coin flip.