The Southern Jaguars and the Florida A&M Rattlers meet Saturday in college basketball action from Teaching Gym. Southern is 7-7 on the year. The Jaguars beat Texas Southern in their last game. As for Florida A&M, they’re sitting at 2-10 so far. The Rattlers lost to Bethune-Cookman in their last game. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.
Southern went 3-6 over their first nine games this year, beating only Tulane, Ecclesia and Tennessee State. It’s been a 4-1 run for the Jaguars since, however. They’ve taken out Lindsey Wilson, Southeastern LA, Kent State and Texas Southern in that span.
In the Texas Southern game back on Monday, the Jaguars managed 30 points in the first half and 33 more from there in a 63-50 win. Top scorer Jayden Saddler put up 16 points, and Brion Whitley added 13 points with two assists.
Over on the Florida A&M side, they put up a 2-4 run coming out of the gate this year with wins over LeMoyne-Owen and Fort Valley State. Since then it’s been losses to FGCU, Akron, Cincinnati, Santa Clara, UCSB and Bethune-Cookman.
Matched up against Bethune-Cookman on Monday, the Rattlers were within one point at halftime. Florida A&M ultimately couldn’t keep up in a 66-59 loss. MJ Randolph led the way on 17 points with nine rebounds and five assists.
Florida A&M is 12-4 ATS in their last 16 at home and 20-8 ATS in their last 28 after a straight-up loss. The under is 5-1 in the Rattlers’ last six Saturday games.
Meanwhile, the Jaguars are 4-1 ATS in their last five road games and 5-0 ATS in their last five overall. Southern is 18-6-2 ATS in their last 26 Saturday games.
PICK: I’m probably going to stick with Southern here. The Jaguars have stepped up their game over the last five outings with four wins in that span (and a nine-point loss to Dayton). Southern has been a mixed bag as far as scoring, but they can put up pretty decent points totals against comparable opponents. Considering Florida A&M has given up 73 or more points in four of their last five games, there should be plenty of opportunities for Southern in this one.