The Longwood Lancers and the Gardner-Webb Runnin’ Bulldogs meet Thursday in college basketball action from Paul Porter Arena. Longwood sits at 19-10 so far. The Lancers beat Radford in their last matchup on Saturday. As for Gardner-Webb, they’re 15-13 overall and coming off a Saturday loss to UNC Asheville. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.
Longwood Lancers
Longwood opened the year on a 15-7 run through their first 22 games. The Lancers have since hit a 4-3 stretch with wins over Campbell, Presbyterian, High Point and Radford alongside losses to Charleston Southern, Winthrop and USC Upstate.
In the Radford matchup on Saturday, the Lancers held a 36-30 edge in the locker room. Longwood posted a 37-33 edge from there and won it 73-63. Isaiah Wilkins led the team on 16 points and four rebounds.
Gardner-Webb Runnin’ Bulldogs
Over on the Gardner-Webb side, they didn’t quite make .500 through their first 20 games at 9-11 overall. The Bulldogs are 6-2 since then however with wins over USC Upstate, High Point, Charleston Southern, Presbyterian, Radford and Campbell.
In the UNC Asheville game on Saturday, the Bulldogs were down 29-28 going into the second half. Gardner-Webb couldn’t get any closer in the end for a 75-63 defeat. Anthony Selden was tops with 20 points and five rebounds.
ANDREW’S FREE PICK
I’m going to stick with Gardner-Webb in this one. Probably not touching it, though. The Bulldogs have lost consecutive games but they’d posted a seven-game win streak prior to that and were playing pretty well along the way. Longwood won the first matchup between these teams this year, taking it 64-59 on January 18 at Willett Hall. The Bulldogs are going to need to get back to form offensively and also get off to a good start, but if all goes well I think they’ll be in line for a home cover in a pretty good matchup.