The Michigan Wolverines and the Arizona State Sun Devils meet Thursday in college basketball action from Barclays Center. Michigan is 3-0 so far and coming off a victory over Pittsburgh. As for Arizona State, they beat VCU in a tight matchup in their last outing on Wednesday. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.
Michigan kicked off their 2022-23 season with a matchup versus Fort Wayne. The Wolverines didn’t have any trouble in that one and took a 75-56 blowout win. Game two against Eastern Michigan was a scare, however Michigan ended up with an 88-83 victory.
In Wednesday’s matchup versus Pittsburgh, the Wolverines went into halftime with a 38-32 edge. Michigan outscored the Panthers 53-28 in the second half for a 91-60 win. Jett Howard led the team in scoring with 17 points, and both Kobe Bufkin and Joey Baker added 14 points apiece.
Over on the Arizona State side, they began the year with a closer-than-expected 62-59 win over Tarleton State, then took care of Northern Arizona 84-68. The Sun Devils lost their first game of the season back on Sunday versus Texas Southern 67-66.
Arizona State was down 35-28 to VCU in Wednesday’s game. The Sun Devils put up a 35-24 advantage in the second half for the comeback victory. Frankie Collins led the team on 15 points, six rebounds and four assists.
PICK: I’m probably going to stay with Michigan. The Wolverines posted a nice game against Pitt on Wednesday, shooting 58.3 percent from the field and 45 percent (9-of-20) from 3-point range. Michigan had a 36-30 rebounding advantage and notched 21 assists with only six turnovers. As for Arizona State, they didn’t shoot very well in the VCU game (36.2 percent), but they had the rebounding advantage 39-37 (13-8 offensive) in a scrappy comeback win. I don’t think they’ll keep pace with Michigan, though.