Duquesne vs Montana 11/8/22 College Basketball Picks, Predictions, Odds

The Montana Grizzlies and the Duquesne Dukes meet in college basketball action from the PPG Paints Arena on Tuesday night.

The Montana Grizzlies come into this one looking to build on a 2021-22 season where they went 18-14 with an 11-9 mark in Big Sky conference play. The Griz earned the 5-seed in the Big Sky tournament, but their stay in the postseason was short-lived after being bounced by Weber State in the quarterfinals. The Grizz do have to replace Robby Beasley (11.8 PPG last season), but Josh Bannan is back after logging 15.1 PPG and 8.2 RPG last season as well as Brandon Whitney who had 11 PPG. The Grizzlies also get some solid transfers from subdivisions, including double-double interior presence Laolu Oke (14.2 PPG, 11.6 RPG) and Jonathan Brown (18.6 PPG) which will definitely give the Grizzlies some depth this season.

The Duquesne Dukes will try to bounce back from a disappointing 2021-22 season, finishing at 6-24 overall, including a 1-16 mark in A-10 conference play. Duquesne’s stay in the conference tournament was short-lived as well, getting knocked out in the first round by Rhode Island in the A-10 tournament. The Dukes do lose the services of Primo Spears (12.7 PPG) and Leon Ayers (10 PPG, 4 RPG) but bring back a pair of double-digit scorers from last year in Kevin Easley (10.7 PPG, 6.6 RPG) and Tre Williams (10.8 PPG, 5.7 RPG) while also bringing in Tevin Brewer from FIU (15.2 PPG) and Dae Dae Grant from Miami-Ohio (17.5 PPG, 4.7 RPG, 4.1 APG) to build up some depth within the Dukes top line.

Montana is 1-5 ATS in their last 6 games overall and 0-4 ATS in their last 4 road games while the over is 4-1 in their last 5 Tuesday games. Duquesne is 4-13 ATS in their last 17 games overall and 2-14 ATS in their last 16 home games while the under is 7-1 in their last 8 home games.

I get the case to be made for Montana here as I usually put a bit of value on returning production and Montana has more of it coming into this game. However, I really like the transfers that Duquesne has coming into the team and I think that it’s going to propel Duquesne back into the upper half of the A-10 this season. I know that’s down the road, but I think the Dukes start the year on the right foot and get themselves a cover in this one.