The New Orleans Privateers and the Baylor Bears meet Wednesday in college basketball action from Foster Pavilion. Here’s a Baylor vs New Orleans prediction. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best Baylor vs New Orleans pick.
New Orleans Privateers Betting Preview
The Privateers stumbled out of the gate this year to a 1-4 overall record. Besides a lone win over Lindenwood, New Orleans otherwise fell to Kansas State, Troy, Stonehill and Robert Morris. Friday’s matchup was a surprising win over Tulane, though.
In the Tulane matchup, New Orleans held a sizable 39-27 edge at the break but gave up 52 points in the second half. After overtime, the Privateers ended up with a 93-87 win. James White was the lead scorer with his 31 points and eight rebounds.
Baylor Bears Betting Preview
Over on the Baylor side, they had a tough matchup with Gonzaga right out of the gate and promptly lost 101-63. The Bears got going after that however, taking out Arkansas, Sam Houston, Tarleton State and St. John’s over the next four.
Baylor had another tricky matchup on Friday and thus another defeat. The Bears were drilled 47-20 by Tennessee in the first half and eventually lost 77-62. Norchad Omier doubled in the defeat with 22 points and 10 rebounds over 30 minutes.
Why the Baylor Bears will win
- Baylor has won each of its last 12 games against the Southland Conference.
- New Orleans has lost 24 of its last 28 games against non-Conference opponents.
- Baylor has won the first half in each of its last 23 games against the Southland Conference.
Why the New Orleans Privateers will win
- New Orleans has won six of its last seven games after coming off overtime.
- Baylor has lost three of its last four day games against non-AP-ranked opponents.
Baylor vs New Orleans Prediction
I’ll lean toward Baylor, even though it’s a very thick line. In their last game, the Bears were in trouble from the beginning against Tennessee and eventually gave up 52.2 percent shooting from the field. Baylor didn’t shoot too badly themselves overall (42.4 percent) but couldn’t keep up with the blistering pace. The Bears should be able to bounce back well here, though. In their only two matchups versus unranked teams this year, Baylor has scored 104 points and won by at least 37 points in each.
As for New Orleans, they played their best outing of the year on Friday versus Tulane. The Privateers shot a nice 50 percent with 38 rebounds in that one, but also had 14 turnovers. New Orleans has 65 or fewer points in all four of their losses this year, so I don’t think they’re going to finish anywhere close on Wednesday.