The Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders and the Florida Atlantic Owls meet Thursday in college basketball action from FAU Arena. The Raiders are 13-7 on the year so far. Middle Tennessee beat Louisiana Tech in their last game. As for FAU, they’re sitting at 19-1 after a win over UTEP on Saturday. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.
Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders
Middle Tennessee went 9-5 over their first 14 games this year, losing to Winthrop, Missouri State, St. Bonaventure, Chattanooga and Charlotte along the way. The Raiders are 4-2 since then with losses to UTSA and North Texas.
On Saturday versus LA Tech, the Blue Raiders took a 43-24 lead into halftime. Middle Tennessee scored just 25 points from there but still got the win 68-51. Elias King topped the team on 17 points with four rebounds.
Florida Atlantic Owls
Over on the Florida Atlantic side, they’ve only taken one loss this year: an 80-67 result versus Ole Miss way back on November 11. FAU has won 18 straight since then, including victories versus UTSA and UTEP in their last pair.
In the Saturday matchup versus UTEP, Florida Atlantic was up 37-24 by the break. The Owls cruised on 30 more second-half points and won it 67-59. Johnell Davis was the top team scorer with 20 points and six rebounds.
ANDREW’S FREE PICK
I’m going to stick with Florida Atlantic. The Owls are on a pretty epic run this season, and they’ve hit 66 or more points in seven straight games. Florida Atlantic has had some close escapes lately, though; five of their last eight wins have come by four points or fewer. As for Middle Tennessee, they’ve picked it up recently with four straight wins and could give FAU a bit of trouble if they play well. I don’t think they’ll get close enough to cover in the end, though.