The North Carolina A&T Aggies and the Hampton Pirates meet Monday in college basketball action from Hampton Convocation Center. NC A&T is sitting at 8-11 overall this year. The Aggies beat Stony Brook in their last game. As for Hampton, they’re 3-14 on the season and fresh off a loss to William & Mary. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.
North Carolina A&T went 5-7 over their first 12 games with wins over Edward Winters, St. Andrews, Greensboro, UNCG and TX Southern. The Aggies are 3-4 since then with wins over Hofstra, Elon and Stony Brook.
In the Stony Brook matchup on Saturday, the Aggies were down 30-26 by the break. NC A&T hit a 35-29 run in the second half and pulled off the comeback win 61-59. Kam Woods was the leading scorer on 19 points.
Over on the Hampton side, they were 3-6 after nine games with wins over Regent VA, Loyola MD and Howard. The Pirates have since lost to Bowling Green, Norfolk State, TX Southern, Charleston, UNCW, Hofstra, Northeastern and William & Mary.
In the Tribe game on Saturday, the Pirates were down 40-31 by halftime. Hampton didn’t get any closer on a 41-34 second-half deficit and lost 81-65. Russell Dean led the way on 21 points with two assists.
PICK: I’ll probably stick with NC A&T. Granted, there’s not a ton of intrigue involved here if you’re not a fan of either team. The Aggies are on a pretty good scoring run lately; they’ve hit 76 or more points in five of the last seven outings. As for Hampton, they haven’t cracked 65 points in five straight games. If the Pirates don’t get off to a very good start in this one, I don’t seem them keeping a cover pace on the Aggies.