The NC State Wolfpack and the Dayton Flyers meet Thursday in college basketball action from Imperial Arena. NC State is 4-1 on the year and coming off a Wednesday loss to Kansas. As for Dayton, they’re currently 3-2 and fell to Wisconsin in their Wednesday matchup. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.
NC State came out of the gate with a big 99-50 win over Austin Peay. The Wolfpack kept it going with a 73-67 win over Campbell and a 107-74 win over FIU. Game four was another victory for NC State, this time 74-63 versus Elon.
In the Kansas matchup on Wednesday, NC State trailed 39-31 at halftime. The Wolfpack outscored the Jayhawks 43-41 in the second half but it wasn’t enough in an 80-74 loss. Leading scorer Casey Morsell put up 21 points and eight rebounds.
Over on the Dayton side, they played Lindenwood in their opener and took a 73-46 win. Game two was another win over SMU 74-62, then the Flyers lost 60-62 to UNLV. In the Robert Morris matchup the Flyers bounced back with a 60-51 victory.
On Wednesday versus Wisconsin, Dayton had a bad first half with just 14 points. The Flyers rallied in the second half but still took a tough loss 43-42. Kobe Elvis was the only team player in double-figure scoring with 16 points and eight boards.
PICK: I’m probably going to stick with NC State. The Wolfpack didn’t shoot all that well versus Kansas on Wednesday, going 38.7 percent from the floor and 8-of-22 (36.4 percent) from 3-point range. NC State did hold strong on the boards with a 38-39 deficit (12-10 offensive). Considering how good the Jayhawks are, that’s pretty impressive. As for Dayton, they had a pretty terrible first half in their Wednesday game versus Wisconsin and shot just 30.2 percent from the floor for the game. If both teams are on, this should be a pretty great matchup. That said, I still like NC State a little better on the cover.