The Hampton Pirates and the Florida Gulf Coast Eagles meet Saturday in college basketball action from Sports and Fitness Center. Hampton is 1-3 on the year and coming off a blowout loss to Kent State on Friday. As for FGCU, they’re sitting at 1-3 as well following a loss to Missouri State. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place. 

Hampton Pirates

Hampton posted a 92-80 loss to Howard in their opener, getting out-rebounded 34-21 and hitting 50 percent of their field goal attempts. After a 109-46 blowout loss to Mid-Atlantic Christian, the Pirates fell 75-68 to Norfolk State in game three. Hampton was closer on rebounds with a 40-39 deficit, but shot just 38.6 percent from the floor in that one. 

On Friday versus Kent State, Hampton was down 55-36 by halftime. The Pirates got even worse from there with a 45-26 second-half deficit in a 100-62 blowout loss. Tops in scoring was Kyrese Mullen with 15 points and six rebounds. Tedrick Wilcox chipped in 10 points as well. 

FGCU Eagles 

Over on the Florida Gulf Coast side, they shot a tepid 38.7 percent from the floor in their opener versus Indiana  but kept pace on the glass 33-33 (13-7 offensive). The Eagles were able to power out a win over Ave Maria 80-71 in game two, but then fell to Pittsburgh 86-74 back on Monday. Florida Gulf Coast was out-rebounded 42-29 in the defeat. 

The Eagles took another loss on Friday versus Missouri State. Florida Gulf Coast was down 42-29 by the break and couldn’t recover the deficit in a 70-61 loss. The Eagles were pretty solid on the boards (relatively speaking) with a 27-26 advantage (12-5 offensive) but hit just four of their 19 shots from 3-point range (21.1 percent).

ANDREW’S FREE PICK 

I’ll probably go with Hampton. Both teams have been fairly disappointing over their first four games, however there have been some flashes of improvement on both sides and we should have a solid matchup here. The Pirates looked pretty bad against Kent State on Friday, getting out-rebounded 40-26 and slogging through 36.5 percent shooting overall. The Flashes were playing great basketball however, and Hampton should fare better against FGCU. 

Speaking of the Eagles, they hit just 4-of-19 on 3-point attempts (21.1 percent) in a reasonably good effort versus Missouri State on Friday. FGCU has every ability to control this game, but I like Hampton to hang around and cover in the end. It’ll be a fun one to watch regardless.