The Valparaiso Beacons and the Bradley Braves meet Saturday in college basketball action from Carver Arena. Valparaiso is 6-10 so far this year. The Beacons lost to Northern Iowa in their last game. As for Bradley, they’re 10-6 and coming off a Wednesday loss to Murray State. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.
Valparaiso went 4-6 through their first 10 outings this year, beating only Western Michigan, Incarnate Word, James Madison and Trinity Christian. The Beacons are 2-4 in their last six games with wins over Elon and Stonehill.
In Wednesday’s game versus Northern Iowa, Valparaiso was down 41-38 going into the second half. The Crusaders outscored the Panthers 29-28 from there but lost 69-67. Ben Krikke topped the team on 20 points and six assists.
Over on the Bradley side, they were 7-3 after 10 games with losses to only Utah State, Auburn and Liberty. The Braves are 3-3 since then with losses to Arkansas, Belmont and Murray State along the way.
On Wednesday versus Murray State, the Braves were outscored 34-27 in the first half. Bradley didn’t end up getting any closer and lost 67-58. Zek Montgomery led the way on 11 points, and Ja’Shon Henry posted 10 points.
PICK: I’ll probably stick with Bradley. The Braves have been pretty shaky over their last three games though, losing to a pretty good Belmont team and a middling Murray State squad. Bradley failed to get past 60 points in both those losses, but if they get off to a good start in this one I think they’ll be fine. As for Valparaiso, they’ve been at 67 points or fewer in three straight games and probably won’t keep up on a cover pace if Bradley gets going.