East Carolina vs Mercer 11/8/22 College Basketball Picks, Predictions, Odds

The Mercer Bears and East Carolina Pirates meet Tuesday in college basketball action at the Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum. The Mercer Bears are coming off a 16-win season. The East Carolina Pirates are coming off a 15-win season.

The Mercer Bears have won at least 16 games in 4 of their last 5 seasons. James Glisson III returns after averaging 10.5 points and 5 rebounds, while Kamar Robertson averaged 10 points and 2 assists. Shannon Grant played in 346 minutes last season and Shawn Walker Jr. averaged 2.6 rebounds. The Mercer Bears lose their top-3 scorers from last season, but they return the majority of the remainder of their key players. Glisson showed enough to where he can be one of the top guys this season, while Robertson is coming off his best year yet and brings senior leadership. The Mercer Bears are an experienced team with 8 seniors, so I wouldn’t sleep on this club in the Southern. 

The East Carolina Pirates enter the Michael Schwartz head coaching era. RJ Felton returns after averaging 5.1 points and 1.6 rebounds, while Brandon Johnson averaged 4.7 points and 0.7 assists. Javon Small played in 147 minutes last season, and Ludgy Debaut averaged 4.2 rebounds. The East Carolina Pirates say goodbye to their top-6 scorers from last season, and that leaves serious question marks entering the year. ECU does land 3 transfers in Quetin Diboundje from Tennessee, Jaden Walker from Iowa State and Benjamin Bayela from South Plains College.

The over is 5-1 in Bears last 6 road games. The under is 4-1 in Bears last 5 Tuesday games. The under is 5-1 in Pirates last 6 overall. The under is 4-1 in Pirates last 5 home games. The over is 4-0 in Pirates last 4 Tuesday games.

The East Carolina Pirates are a completely different team than they were last season, and there’s so much roster turnover that they’re hard to trust. The Mercer Bears have more production coming back, and they’re loaded with senior leadership, which certainly helps in spots like this. I have to lay the bucket with Mercer on the road.