Temple Owls (8-12) vs. East Carolina Pirates (10-10)
January 28, 2024 5:00 pm EDT
The Line: East Carolina Pirates -6; Over/Under: 136
(Get latest betting odds)
The Temple Owls and the East Carolina Pirates meet Sunday in college basketball action from Minges Coliseum. Temple is sitting at 8-12 overall and riding a five-game losing streak after falling to South Florida on Wednesday. As for East Carolina, they’re .500 through 20 games so far and coming off a win over Wichita State. Let’s get into our Temple vs. East Carolina prediction. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.
Temple Owls
The Owls started out the year at a decent 6-3, but haven’t been able to win consecutive games since then. Temple last beat Wichita State on January 7, and since then they’ve fallen to East Carolina, North Texas, SMU, Rice and South Florida in their last five consecutive games.
In the South Florida matchup on Wednesday, the Owls were up 35-31 going into the second half. Temple fell behind on a 44-34 deficit from there however and lost 75-69. Tops in scoring was Matteo Picarelli with 23 points, four rebounds and one assist in the losing effort.
East Carolina Pirates
Over on the Pirates’ side, they posted a 9-7 run over their first 16 games with losses to USC Upstate, Northeastern, George Mason, South Carolina, Florida, East Tennessee State and FAU. After losses to SMU, North Texas and UAB, East Carolina managed another win over Wichita State.
In the Wichita State game, the Pirates held a 26-22 edge at halftime. East Carolina was outscored 30-28 in the second, but held on for the slim win 54-52. Brandon Johnson was the team’s top contributor with 12 points, seven rebounds and three steals in 38 minutes of work.
ANDREW’S FREE TEMPLE VS EAST CAROLINA PREDICTION
I’ll probably lean toward East Carolina. Also probably not touching this one, though. The Pirates managed just 33.8 percent shooting in their latest win over Wichita State, however they did pretty well with rebounding (38) and turnovers (9). Still, East Carolina has been below 65 points for four straight games.
The last time these teams met up, the Pirates secured a 73-62 road victory. East Carolina shot a blistering 54 percent from the field in that one, and though I don’t think they’ll be quite so hot in this rematch I’m still leaning toward a Pirates cover.
