Canceled: Hampton vs North Carolina Central 12/18/21 College Basketball Picks, Predictions, Odds

NOTE: This game has been cancelled. NC Central will instead face Delaware State on Saturday. The North Carolina Central Eagles and the Hampton Pirates meet Saturday in college basketball action from Prudential Center. NC Central is sitting at 5-7 so far. The Eagles beat Gardner-Webb in their last outing. As for Hampton, they’re 4-7 and lost to Loyola MD in their most recent appearance. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place. 

North Carolina Central went 0-4 to start the season before finally managing wins over Warren Wilson and the Apprentice. Since then it’s been a 3-3 run for the Eagles; they’ve taken out USC Upstate, Carver and Gardner-Webb in that time. 

In the Gardner-Webb game, the Eagles were down 30-28 at halftime. NC Central managed 44 points from there in a nice 72-71 victory. Top scorer Kris Monroe finished on 17 points with three rebounds, and three other players had 10 points each. 

Over on the Hampton side, they won their first two games before hitting a losing streak to Towson, Wofford, GA Southern, South Florida, Norfolk State and Morgan State. The Pirates then beat Norfolk State and William & Mary before a loss to Loyola MD. 

In the Sunday game versus the Greyhounds, Hampton scored 22 points in the first half and 32 more in the second on the way to a 67-54 loss. The only-double digit team scorer was Najee Garvin with 23 points and five boards. 

The Pirates are 4-11 ATS in their last 15 overall and the under is 10-1 in their last 11 overall. The under is 5-1 in Hampton’s last six after an ATS loss. 

Meanwhile, the Eagles are 19-7 ATS in their last 26 neutral-site games and 0-4 ATS in their last four after an ATS win. NC Central is 5-13 ATS in their last 18 overall. 

PICK: I’m going to try NC Central, but probably staying away. This should be a pretty interesting matchup regardless, though. The Eagles have had some trouble hitting that 70-point mark this season, but they’ve done it in their past two games with 174 combined points. NC Central does give up a lot of points on the other side, though: 71 or more in three of their last four games, in fact. As for Hampton, they’ve had trouble scoring themselves this season. The Pirates have been at 58 points or fewer in each of their last four games. NC Central is really going to have to push on offense, but if they can finish above 70 or so the Eagles should be fine on a cover.