The Marshall Thundering Herd and the Eastern Kentucky Colonels meet Saturday in college basketball action from McBrayer Arena. Marshall is sitting at 6-3 this year. The Herd are coming off a victory over Bluefield College. As for Eastern Kentucky, they’re 5-5 so far and coming off a loss to USC. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.
Marshall started off the year on a 4-1 run with wins over Wright State, Milligan, Jackson State and Louisiana. After losses to Indiana and Akron, the Herd have since picked up wins in their last pair versus Duquesne and Bluefield College.
In the Bluefield matchup, Marshall didn’t have much trouble. The Herd jumped out to a 47-27 halftime edge and scored 53 more points from there in a 100-57 blowout win. Taevion Kinsey was the leading scorer on 21 points with eight rebounds and seven assists.
Over on the Eastern Kentucky side, they went 5-1 over their first half-dozen games, taking out Georgetown (KY), Ohio Valley, Albany, Milwaukee and EIU in that stretch. Since then it’s been four straight losses to West Virginia, Radford, Western Kentucky and USC>
Matched up against an unbeaten USC, Eastern Kentucky fell behind 41-25 in the first half and limped to an 80-68 loss. Leading the team in scoring was Braxton Beverly with 16 points, two rebounds, four assists and three steals.
The Colonels are 15-6-2 ATS in their last 23 at home and 21-9-1 ATS in their last 31 after an ATS win. Eastern Kentucky is 35-16-2 ATS in their last 53 overall.
Meanwhile, the Herd are 2-9-2 ATS in their last 13 overall and 0-4-1 ATS in their last five Saturday games. The over is 4-1 in Marshall’s last five overall.
PICK: I’m going to try Marshall here. The Herd have done a nice job scoring so far this year, and they’ve hit 72 or more points in eight of their nine games. Marshall dominated an overmatched Bluefield in their last game Wednesday, shooting 48.8 percent from the field with 61 rebounds and 24 team assists.
As for Eastern Kentucky, they’ve had some bad luck over this losing streak but should match up better in this one. Still, if Marshall keeps up the scoring surge I think they’ll be fine on a cover.