The Liberty Flames and the East Carolina Pirates meet Friday in college basketball action from Spectrum Center. Liberty is 6-4 so far this year and coming off a win over Carver. As for East Carolina, they’re sitting at 8-2 on the season. The Pirates beat NC A&T in their last outing. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.
Liberty went just 1-3 over their first four games this year, falling to LSU, Iona and Manhattan. Since then the Flames are 5-1, with a loss to Stephen F. Austin mixed among wins over Bethune-Cookman, MD Eastern Shore, Missouri, Delaware State and Carver.
In the Monday game versus Carver, the Flames didn’t have much trouble. Liberty jumped out to a 48-21 edge at halftime and went 47-15 from there in a 95-36 win. Darius McGhee led the way on 23 points, and Brody Peebles had 14 points with seven boards.
Over on the East Carolina side, they hit a 4-2 run to open the season, falling to Oklahoma and Davidson along the way. The Pirates have recorded wins in their last four straight, taking out Coppin State, Old Dominion, Gardner-Webb and NC A&T.
Matched up against NC A&T last week, the Pirates scored 37 points in the first half and 45 more in the second on the way to an 82-71 win. Vance Jackson topped the team on 23 points, eight rebounds and two assists.
The Pirates are 4-1 ATS in their last five after an ATS win and 6-2 ATS in their last eight after a straight-up win. Eastern Carolina is 5-1 ATS in their last six Friday games.
Meanwhile, the Flames are 0-6 ATS in their last six neutral-site games and 2-6 ATS in their last eight Friday games. The under is 5-1 in Liberty’s last six Friday games.
PICK: I’m probably going to stick with East Carolina here. The Pirates are coming off a solid game against NC A&T, posting 45.8 percent shooting from the field with 39 rebounds and 18 team assists. There have been a couple of close calls during this four-game win streak, though.
As for the Flames, they’ve scored well over their last three outings with 95 points or more in two of them. Liberty has had quite a few scoring duds this year however, and I’m not sure if they can keep up if East Carolina gets going offensively.