The Central Arkansas Bears and the Arkansas State Red Wolves meet Saturday in college basketball action from ASU Convocation Center. Central Arkansas is sitting on a four-game losing streak and fell to Arkansas in their last outing. As for Arkansas State, they’re 4-2 on the year and coming off a win over Kansas City. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.
Central Arkansas kicked off the year with a three-game losing streak versus Saint Louis, Butler and Baylor. After a win over Oral Roberts, the Bears lost their next four versus New Orleans, VMI, Presbyterian and Arkansas.
In the Wednesday matchup versus Arkansas, the Bears had a decent first half and trailed 41-35 at the break. Central Arkansas fell way behind from there and ended up losing 97-60. Collin Cooper topped the team with 13 points, three rebounds and two assists.
Over on the Arkansas State side, they went 3-1 in their first four games this year with a loss to Illinois and wins over Harding, Cal Baptist and Southeast Missouri State. After a loss to Morehead State, the Red Wolves managed a win over Kansas City.
In the Kansas City matchup, the Red Wolves scored 39 points in the first half and 27 more from there in a 66-55 victory. Leading the way for AR State was Desi Sills with 18 points, five assists and three rebounds.
The Red Wolves are 8-2 ATS in their last 10 at home and 7-3 ATS in their last 10 after an ATS win. AR State is 6-1 ATS in their last seven Saturday games.
Meanwhile, the Bears are 1-7 ATS in their last eight road games and 2-7 ATS in their last nine overall. The under is 4-1 in Central AR’s last five after an ATS loss.
PICK: I’m going to stick with Arkansas State. The Red Wolves weren’t super dominant against Kansas City in their last game but still got the job done. AR State shot 53.5 percent from the floor with 28 rebounds and 17 team assists. It was a nice bounce-back from a bad showing versus Morehead.
As for Central Arkansas, they faded hard after halftime in the Arkansas game, coughing up 25 turnovers and getting out-rebounded 47-31. The Bears may be able to stick around in this one initially but I like AR State to pull away in the second half toward a cover.