The Wichita State Shockers and the East Carolina Pirates meet Thursday in college basketball action from Minges Coliseum. Wichita State comes into this one at 10-14 overall following a loss to Florida Atlantic on Sunday. As for East Carolina, they’re fresh off a win over UTSA that brought the Pirates back to .500 through 24 games. Let’s get into our Wichita State vs. East Carolina prediction. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.
Wichita State Shockers
The Shockers got off to a pretty solid 8-3 start this year, but they’ve only been able to win two games since December 16. Wichita State is a sketchy 2-3 in their last five games, taking losses to Tulsa, Memphis and Florida Atlantic during that time. The wins otherwise were versus SMU and UTSA.
In their last matchup versus Florida Atlantic on Sunday, the Shockers put up a good fight. Wichita State scored 36 points in the first half, 38 in the second and eight in overtime for a 95-82 defeat. Top team scorer Xavier Bell managed 25 points with four rebounds off the bench.
East Carolina Pirates
Over on the Pirates’ side, they were 9-7 back in early January but haven’t gotten back to two games above .500 since then. East Carolina is 3-5 in their last eight games, taking losses to SMU, North Texas, UAB, South Florida and Charlotte alongside wins over Wichita State, Temple and UTSA.
In the UTSA game over the weekend, the Pirates jumped out to a 48-25 edge by the break. East Carolina was outscored 48-36 from there but held on for the win 84-73 in the end. Brandon Johnson topped the team with his 30 points, nine rebounds and two steals.
ANDREW’S FREE WICHITA STATE VS EAST CAROLINA PREDICTION
I’m going to stick with East Carolina. The Pirates played pretty well in their win over UTSA over the weekend, posting 45.8 percent from the field with 37 rebounds, 21 assists and just six turnovers in a nice all-around effort. East Carolina had scored just 112 combined points in their previous pair, so it was a promising offensive finish.
The last time these teams met each other was back on January 24 in a 54-52 road win for East Carolina. The Pirates didn’t shoot well in that one (33.8 percent); the key stat was the 22 points off 19 Wichita State turnovers. ECU can’t rely on the Shockers being that sloppy in the rematch, so they’re going to have to find some scoring consistency early.