The Texas-Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros and the Dixie State Trailblazers meet Saturday in college basketball action from Burns Arena. UTRGV is 6-12 so far this season. The Vaqueros put up a loss to Utah Valley in their last game. As for Dixie State, they’re sitting at 9-10 and coming off a win over Lamar. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.
UTRGV posted a 5-11 run over their first 16 games this year. The Vaqueros’ wins in that time were over Texas A&M International, Paul Quinn, Northern Arizona, CSU Fullerton and UTSA. After another win over Chicago State, UTRGV lost to Utah Valley on Thursday.
Matched up against Utah Valley in their last appearance, the Vaqueros had a one-point lead at halftime. UTRGV was outscored 37-26 from there in a 66-56 loss. Xavier Johnson topped the team on 21 points and three rebounds.
Over on the Dixie State side, they began the year at 1-5 then hit a six-game win streak in December. It’s been a 2-5 stretch for the Trailblazers since then, however. The only wins were versus Cal Baptist and Lamar.
In the Lamar game Thursday, the Trailblazers posted a 36-32 run in the first half and a 35-23 advantage in the second during a 71-55 win. Tops on the team was Hunter Schofield who doubled up on 22 points and 12 rebounds.
The Trailblazers are 3-1-1 ATS in their last five Saturday games and the under is 4-0 in their last four after a straight-up win. The under is 4-1 in Dixie State’s last five Saturday games.
Meanwhile, the Vaqueros are 1-4-1 ATS in their last six Saturday games and 4-0 ATS in their last four road games. UTRGV is 5-2 ATS in their last seven overall.
PICK: I’m going to take a stab on Dixie State. Probably not touching this game, though. That said, the Trailblazers have been pretty decent offensively over their last four games with 68 or more in each outing (going 2-2 in that time). This should be a comparable matchup for Dixie State, and I think they’ll finish above 70 points if all goes well.
As for UTRGV, they’ve got some big scoring totals during this 1-5 stretch themselves. I like this one to be a fairly high-total game with Dixie State pulling off the cover.