East Carolina vs SMU 2/12/22 College Basketball Picks, Predictions, Odds

The SMU Mustangs and the East Carolina Pirates meet in college basketball action from the Minges Coliseum on Saturday afternoon.

The SMU Mustangs will look to build on their 85-83 win over Houston in their last game. Kendric Davis leads the Mustangs in scoring and assists with 19.6 PPG along with 4.8 APG in addition to his 4.2 RPG this season while Marcus Weathers has 12.2 PPG with a team-high 7 RPG to lead the Mustangs on the glass and Emmanuel Bandoumel has 10.2 PPG to make up the trio of double-digit scorers for SMU so far this season. Michael Weathers also has 9.4 PPG with 5.3 RPG as well for the Mustangs this season. As a team, SMU is averaging 75.6 PPG on 45.2% shooting from the field, 36.8% from three and 74.8% from the foul line while allowing 67.8 PPG on 40.3% shooting from the field and 31.2% from three this season.

The East Carolina Pirates will try to build on their 73-71 win over Tulsa last time out. Tristen Newton leads the Pirates in scoring with 17.1 PPG as well as in assists with 4.9 APG while Vance Jackson has 13.6 PPG and a team-high 6.2 RPG to make up the duo of double-digit scorers for ECU this season. Brandon Suggs has 9.8 PPG with 4 RPG and Brandon Johnson shares the Pirates’ team lead in rebounding, grabbing 6.2 RPG for the Pirates up to this point in the year. As a team, East Carolina is averaging 70.1 PPG on 41% shooting from the field, 34% from three-point range and 74.9% from the foul line while allowing 72.1 PPG on 43.6% shooting from the field and 35% from three point range so far this season.

SMU is 10-4 ATS in their last 14 games overall and 5-2 ATS in their last 7 road games while the under is 7-0 in their last 7 games following a win. East Carolina is 2-5 ATS in their last 7 games overall and 4-11 ATS in their last 15 games as a home underdog while the over is 5-0 in their last 5 games following a win.

I get the case to be made for either side here, but the thing about this one is that SMU is the far better team here playing far better basketball and while East Carolina got a win last time out, beating the cellar dwellers in Tulsa doesn’t really say a whole lot about where you are and doesn’t give me much confidence. Sceptics will say this is a letdown spot for SMU after rallying for such a big win against Houston, but I don’t think East Carolina is a team built to take advantage of that. Give me the Mustangs in this one.