The Southeastern Louisiana Lions and the Iowa Hawkeyes meet Tuesday in college basketball action from Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Southeastern LA is 4-8 so far and coming off a loss to Iowa State. As for Iowa, they’re 7-3 this year. The Hawkeyes beat Utah State in their last appearance. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.
Southeastern LA managed a 3-2 run over their first five games this year, then hit losses to Fort Wayne, Florida Gulf Coast and Western Michigan. After a win over Troy, the Lions lost to Southern U, Louisville and Iowa State.
In the Iowa State game Sunday, the Lions scored just 17 points in the first half on the way to a 77-54 loss. The team’s only double-digit scorer was Gus Okafor with 13 points and eight rebounds in 34 minutes of work.
Over on the Iowa side, they beat Longwood, UMKC, NC Central, Alabama State, Western Michigan, Portland State and Virginia to start the year. The Hawkeyes lost to Purdue, Illinois and Iowa State before another win over Utah State back on Saturday.
In the Utah State game, Iowa got off to a 51-43 halftime lead and was able to hang on for the 94-75 victory. Keegan Murray went off for 35 points and seven rebounds, while Kris Murray added 17 points and four boards in 19 minutes.
Iowa is 26-12-3 ATS in their last 41 at home and 5-2 ATS in their last seven overall. The over is 6-2 in the Hawkeyes’ last eight after an ATS win.
Meanwhile, the Lions are 1-5 ATS in their last six road games and 1-6 ATS in their last seven overall. SE Louisiana is 1-4 ATS in their last five after a straight-up loss.
PICK: I’m likely sticking with Iowa. The Hawkeyes had a rough run of games before their last outing, but they cleaned it up against Utah State with 54.7 percent shooting, 35 rebounds and 21 team assists in a great all-around effort. Even in their losses, Iowa has been very competitive this year (outside of the Iowa State game, that is).
As for SE Louisiana, they’ve shown some flashes this year but they haven’t scored more than 66 points in any of their last three games. I don’t think the Lions have got the legs to keep up on a cover in this one.