Charlotte vs Middle Tennessee 12/29/22 College Basketball Picks, Predictions, Odds

The Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders and the Charlotte 49ers meet in college basketball action from the Halton Arena on Thursday night.

The Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders will be out to build on their 83-67 win over Murray State last time out. Deandre Dishman leads the Blue Raiders in scoring and rebounding with 12.9 PPG along with 5.6 RPG and Eli Lawrence has 11.3 PPG with 3.6 RPG as the only other double-digit scorer for Middle Tennessee this season. Camryn Weston also has 2.7 APG to lead the Blue Raiders in assists this season. As a team, Middle Tennessee is averaging 72 PPG on 46.4% shooting from the field, 30.2% from behind the arc and 64.7% from the foul line this season.

The Charlotte 49ers will hope to bounce back after a 76-68 loss to UAB last time out. Igor Milicic Jr. leads the 49ers in scoring with 10.5 PPG along with 5.8 RPG and Aly Khalifa also has 10.3 PPG with team-highs of 7.2 RPG and 3.7 APG to lead the 49ers in rebounding and assists as the only double-digit scorer for Charlotte so far this season. As a team, Charlotte is averaging 68.8 PPG on 47.3% shooting from the field, 37.3% from three-point range and 73% from the foul line this season.

Middle Tennessee is 6-1-1 ATS in their last 8 Thursday games and 36-17-3 ATS in their last 56 games overall while the over is 6-0 in their last 6 games overall. Charlotte is 5-1 ATS in their last 6 games overall and 5-2 ATS in their last 7 home games while the over is 12-4-1 in their last 17 games against a team with a winning percentage above .600.

I get the case to be made on either side here, but I’m backing Charlotte at home in this one. The 49ers have been really good on their home floor and they’ve also been really good at slowing teams down and bringing teams down to their level and stifling them with that rock solid defense. Middle Tennessee’s a decent team, but I just feel like Charlotte is the better team. Give me the 49ers here.