The North Dakota State Bison and the Cal State Bakersfield Roadrunners meet Thursday in college basketball action from Icardo Center in Bakersfield. Here’s a Cal State Bakersfield vs North Dakota State prediction. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best Cal State Bakersfield vs North Dakota State pick.
North Dakota State Bison Betting Preview
North Dakota State lost their first two games this year versus Oregon State and UC Davis. The Bison are a cool 7-1 since then, though. The loss in that time was versus Arkansas State in overtime. Otherwise North Dakota State has beaten CSU Northridge, St. Scholastica, Southern Illinois, Jamestown, Jacksonville State, Montana and Northern Arizona in that time. That gives the Bison a 7-3 overall record so far this year across the first 10 games.
On Saturday versus Northern Arizona, the Bison were up 30-22 by the break. North Dakota State hit a 46-39 deficit the rest of the way but held on for the win 69-68 in the end. Trevian Carson topped the team on a double-double with 19 points and 12 rebounds, while Markhi Strickland had 16 points with five boards. Damari Wheeler-Thomas added 10 points with two rebounds in 28 minutes as well.
Cal State Bakersfield Roadrunners Betting Preview
Over on the CSU Bakersfield side, they opened the year on a .500 clip across eight games. The wins in that time were over Whittier, Western Illinois, MS Valley State and Fresno State. The losses otherwise were versus Cal, Ole Miss, Portland State and Florida State. Since then Cal State Bakersfield has lost consecutive games versus Cal State Northridge and UC Santa Barbara. That gives the Roadrunners a 4-6 run across their first 10 games this year so far.
Matched up against UC Santa Barbara on Saturday, the Roadrunners were down by 15 points at halftime. CSUB limped to a 109-84 loss after a 58-48 second-half run. Topping the team was CJ Hardy with 23 points, five assists and four rebounds. Both Dailin Smith (two assists; two rebounds) and Tom Mark (one rebound) had 14 points apiece as well.
Why the Cal State Bakersfield Roadrunners will win
- Cal State Bakersfield has won each of its last four home games.
- Cal State Bakersfield has won the first half in each of its last four games against non-Conference opponents at Icardo Center.
Why the North Dakota State Bison will win
- North Dakota State has won each of its last six night games.
- Cal State Bakersfield has lost seven of its last eight night games.
- Cal State Bakersfield has lost the first half in eight of its last nine night games.
Cal State Bakersfield vs North Dakota State Prediction
I’ll lean toward North Dakota State. The Bison could use a cleaner effort here than they got in the tight win over Northern Arizona, though. ND State hit just 40.6 percent from the field and 11-of-18 (61.1 percent) from the line in that one along with 16 turnovers. The Bison were pretty good on the boards otherwise, though, which helped save the victory. That makes fewer than 70 points in two of the last three games for North Dakota State, so it’d be nice to see a 70-plus total here.
As for CSUB, they shot well in their latest loss to UCSB (50 percent) but also gave up 55.7 percent on the other side and got outmuscled on the boards 39-19. Cal State Bakersfield has given up a combined 196 points in their past two games, so North Dakota State should have plenty of scoring opportunities in this one.