The Eastern Kentucky Colonels and the Florida Gulf Coast Eagles meet Thursday in college basketball action from Alico Arena. Eastern Kentucky is sitting at 10-10 so far this year. The Colonels beat North Florida in their last outing. As for Florida Gulf Coast, they’re sitting at 12-8 and coming off a loss to Jacksonville State. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.
Eastern Kentucky got off to a spotty start this year at 5-6, then hit a win streak over Midway, Northern Kentucky and Alice Lloyd. The Colonels would lose another four games in a row before picking up wins over Lipscomb and North Florida.
In the North Florida game back on Saturday, the Colonels posted a 41-26 first-half lead and cruised to the eventual 67-58 victory. Leading the team in scoring was Devontae Blanton with 21 points, nine rebounds, three assists and three steals.
Over on the Florida Gulf Coast side, their year began on a 11-4 run with losses to Loyola, USC, FIU and Canisius. Since then it’s been a 1-4 run for the Eagles with losses to Jacksonville, Kennesaw State, Liberty and Jacksonville State.
In the Jacksonville State game, the Eagles trailed 40-35 by halftime. Florida Gulf Coast didn’t get any closer in an eventual 79-71 loss. Tops in scoring was Tavian Dunn-Martin on 17 points and eight assists. Kevin Samuel doubled on 16 points and 11 rebounds as well.
The Eagles are 12-3 ATS in their last 15 Thursday games and 1-4 ATS in their last five after an ATS loss. The over is 4-1 in Florida Gulf Coast’s last five overall.
Meanwhile, the Colonels are 1-4 ATS in their last five road games and 1-5 ATS in their last six overall. EKU is 11-3 ATS in their last 14 Thursday games.
PICK: I’m going to take a stab on Florida Gulf Coast. The Eagles have been pretty spotty over this 1-4 run, but the good news is that they’ve hit 71 or more points in three straight games. There should be some solid scoring opportunities here versus Eastern Kentucky; the Colonels have given up 72 or more points in three of their last four. I like this one to be a higher-total game with Florida Gulf Coast eking out a cover.