New Mexico State vs Cal Baptist 1/7/23 College Basketball Picks, Predictions, Odds

The California Baptist Lancers and the New Mexico State Aggies meet Saturday in college basketball action from Pan American Center. Cal Baptist is fresh off a Thursday matchup versus Utah Tech. In that one the Lancers managed a blowout win. As for New Mexico State, they’re sitting at 7-8 overall and coming off a Thursday loss to Stephen F. Austin. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.

Cal Baptist was 6-4 at the 10-game mark this year, losing to LBSU, Minnesota, Southern Illinois and Cal Poly along the way. The Lancers would then hit a 2-3 stretch with losses to Portland State, Grand Canyon and Seattle. 

Matched up against Utah Tech on Thursday, the Lancers were down 29-26 at halftime. Cal Baptist stormed back on a 46-29 second-half run and won it 72-58. Scotty Washington led the team with 17 points, and Timothy Ighoefe doubled on 11 points and 10 rebounds. 

Over on the New Mexico State side, they were 6-4 after 10 games as well, taking losses to UTEP, UC Irvine, Santa Clara and Saint Mary’s. The Aggies are 1-4 in their last five with losses to Kent State, Southern Utah, Sam Houston and Stephen F. Austin. 

In the Wednesday game versus Stephen F. Austin, the Aggies trailed 31-24 by the break. New Mexico State didn’t end up getting any closer in a 69-60 loss. Xavier Pinson scored 20 points, and Marchelus Avery doubled on 16 points with 10 rebounds. 

PICK: I might take a stab on New Mexico State here. That said, I’m probably staying away. The good news is that it should be a competitive matchup; the bad news is that neither team has been playing great ball lately. The Aggies have mustered 63 points or fewer in three of their last five games and they weren’t able to string together consecutive wins for the entire moth of December. Cal Baptist has been a mixed bag as well, but they’ve come close in a few of their recent losses. This one should be a fun game to watch if nothing else.