The Jacksonville State Gamecocks and the Eastern Kentucky Colonels meet Thursday in college basketball action from EKU Alumni Coliseum. Jacksonville State is 10-13 so far this year. The Gamecocks beat Austin Peay in their last game on Saturday. As for Eastern Kentucky, they’re sitting at 14-9 after a win over Bellarmine this past weekend. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.
Jacksonville State Gamecocks
Jacksonville State managed to beat Shorter, Elon, ETSU, North Dakota State, Reinhardt, Little Rock and GSW in their first 16 games this year. The Gamecocks are 3-4 since then with wins over North Florida, Lipscomb and Austin Peay.
Matched up against Austin Peay on Saturday, the Gamecocks managed a 34-26 edge by halftime. Jacksonville State posted a 36-27 run in the second half and won it 70-53. Demaree King was tops in scoring with 15 points.
Eastern Kentucky Colonels
Over on the Eastern Kentucky side, they lost to WKU, Cincinnati, Texas A&M-Commerce, JMU, Tennessee, Northern Kentucky and Kennesaw State in their first 16 outings. The Colonels are 5-2 in their last seven with losses to Lipscomb and Bellarmine.
In the Bellarmine rematch back on Saturday, the Colonels nursed a two-point lead in the locker room. Eastern Kentucky posted a 36-28 advantage from there and took the win 73-63. Devontae Blanton doubled up on 22 points and 13 rebounds.
ANDREW’S FREE PICK
I’ll probably stick with Eastern Kentucky in this one. The Colonels managed a nice effort versus Bellarmine in their last game, and they’ve now hit 71 or more points in five of their last six outings. As for Jacksonville State, they’ve been a mixed bag in the record column lately, but the good news is that they’ve hit 70 or more in three straight games. Overall I like this one to be a fairly high total, with Eastern Kentucky eventually pulling out the cover. Should be an entertaining matchup.