SMU vs Tulane 1/11/23 College Basketball Picks, Predictions, Odds

The Tulane Green Wave and the SMU Mustangs meet in college basketball action from the Moody Coliseum on Wednesday night.

The Tulane Green Wave will try to build on their three-game win streak after an 87-76 win over Temple last time out. Jaylen Forbes leads the Green Wave in scoring with 17.9 PPG along with 4.7 RPG while Jalen Cook has 17.4 PPG with 4.5 APG this season. Kevin Cross has 14.5 PPG with a team-high 6.2 RPG while Sion James has 11.8 PPG with 4 APG to cap off the group of double-digit scorers for Tulane so far this season. As a team, Tulane is averaging 81.2 PPG on 46.5% shooting from the field, 33.6% from three and 81.4% from the foul line this season.

The SMU Mustangs will try to rebound from back-to-back losses after an 85-53 loss to UCF last time out. Zhuric Phelps leads the Mustangs in scoring and assists with 17.5 PPG and 2.5 APG while Zach Nutall has 13.8 PPG as the only other double-digit scorer for SMU up to this point in the season. Efe Odigie has 9.1 PPG with a team-high 6.8 RPG to lead the Mustangs on the glass up to this point in the season. As a team, SMU is averaging 67.8 PPG on 42.5% shooting from behind the arc, 31.2% from behind the three-point line and 69.8% from the foul line up to this point in the year.

Tulane is 4-10 ATS in their last 14 games overall and 2-8 ATS in their last 10 games following a win while the over is 5-0 in their last 5 games overall. SMU is 4-9 ATS in their last 13 home games and 5-2 ATS in their last 7 games overall while the over is 4-0 in their last 4 games following a loss.

I get the case to be made for either side in this game, but I’m looking at Tulane here. SMU just hasn’t been able to get anything going this season and while the bulk of their struggles came on the road, we’ve also seen the Mustangs fall apart at home against teams like Jackson State and Arizona State. Tulane’s not an automatic, but they’re still better than the alternative here. I’ll side with Tulane in this one.