The Morgan State Bears and the Hampton Pirates meet Monday in college basketball action from Talking Stick Resort Arena. Morgan State is coming off a Sunday matchup versus Grambling State. In that one the Bears lost by 15 points. As for Hampton, they played Norfolk State in their last game. The Pirates ended up losing by nine points there. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.
Morgan State got off to a good start this year with consecutive wins over St. Mary’s MD and Penn State-Alleghany. The Bears hit a losing skid after that, falling to George Mason, Seattle, Portland and San Francisco in their next four.
In Sunday’s matchup versus Grambling State, Morgan State was flat from the beginning, scoring just 24 points in the first half on the way to a 74-59 loss. Lagio Grantsaan put up 14 points with six rebounds and one assist to lead the team.
Over on the Hampton side, they similarly won their first pair of games this year over MACU and Regent VA. The Pirates likewise lost their next four. Those defeats came courtesy of Towson, Wofford, GA Southern and South Florida.
In the Sunday game versus Norfolk State, the Pirates had a 32-26 edge at halftime. Hampton couldn’t hold on after giving up 44 points from there, losing 70-61. Leading the way in scoring were Russell Dean and Marquis Godwin, each with 14 points.
Morgan State is 6-21 ATS in their last 27 Monday games and 1-4 ATS in their last five overall. The over is 9-4 in the Bears’ last 13 neutral-site games.
Meanwhile, the Pirates are 1-5 ATS in their last six overall and 8-3 ATS in their last 11 neutral-site games as an underdog. The under is 5-1 in Hampton’s last six overall.
PICK: I’m going to try out Morgan State. There’s not a lot to like in this one, though. The Bears looked pretty bad offensively on Sunday, posting just 34.4 percent from the field. Morgan State did finish with a solid 41 rebounds; the 20 turnovers and lousy shooting killed the momentum, though.
As for Hampton, they had a solid first half against Norfolk State in their last outing but simply couldn’t hang on with a 44-29 second-half deficit. The Pirates shot just 33.9 percent from the field but did a decent job on rebounding (34). I don’t think they’ll bounce back well enough to cover here, but I’m not going near this game regardless.