The Fort Wayne Mastodons and the IUPUI Jaguars meet Thursday in college basketball action from Indiana Farmers Coliseum. Fort Wayne currently sits at 11-6 overall. The Mastodons lost to Milwaukee in their last game. As for IUPUI, they’re 3-14 this season following a loss to Robert Morris on Monday. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.
Fort Wayne managed a 6-4 run through their first 10 games, losing to Michigan, Northwestern, Southern Miss and Detroit. The Mastodons are 5-2 in their last seven with wins over Missouri State, Texas A&M-Commerce, Southern Indiana, Youngstown State and Green Bay.
In the Milwaukee matchup back on Saturday, Fort Wayne trailed 36-29 going into the second half. The Mastodons posted a 41-38 run from there but still lost 74-70. Jarred Godfrey led the team on 22 points with four rebounds.
Over on the IUPUI side, they were 2-8 after 10 games this year. The only wins in that stretch came versus Franklin and Spalding. The Jaguars are just 1-6 since then with a lone win over Texas A&M-Commerce.
In the Monday game versus Robert Morris, the Jaguars were drilled 44-29 in the first half. IUPUI posted a 41-33 edge in the second but still lost 77-70. Chris Osten put up 21 points with five rebounds in the defeat.
PICK: I’m going to stick with Fort Wayne here. Probably not touching this one, though. The Mastodons had an uneven first half against a pretty good Milwaukee team in their last outing but the good news is that the team has been scoring well lately. Fort Wayne has put up 70 or more points in six straight outings. Considering IUPUI has coughed up 77 or more points in three straight games, that bodes well for Fort Wayne’s scoring chances here. I like the Jaguars to hang around for a while before the Mastodons eventually cover.