Liberty vs North Alabama 1/12/23 College Basketball Picks, Predictions, Odds
North Alabama Lions (9-8) vs. Liberty Flames (12-5)
January 12, 2023 7:00 pm EDT
The Line: Liberty Flames -18.5 / North Alabama Lions +18.5; Over/Under: +134
(Get latest betting odds)
The North Alabama Lions and the Liberty Flames meet in college basketball action from the Liberty Arena on Thursday night.
The North Alabama Lions will look to bounce back from a third straight loss after a 95-85 OT loss to Stetson last time out. Daniel Ortiz leads the Lions in scoring with 11.9 PPG while KJ Johnson has 11.3 PPG with a team-high 3.3 APG to lead the Lions in the assist department this season. Jacari Lane has 10 PPG to cap off the trio of double-digit scorers for North Alabama up to this point in the year. Damian Forrest also has a team-high 6.9 RPG to lead Norht Alabama on the glass so far this season. As a team, North Alabama is averaging 74.9 PPG on 46.4% shooting from the field, 36.8% from three and 67.6% from the foul line this season.
The Liberty Flames will look to bounce back from a 62-59 loss to Eastern Kentucky last time out. Darius McGhee leads the Flames in scoring with 21.1 PPG while Brody Peebles has 12.1 PPG as the only other double-digit scorer for Liberty up to this point in the season. Kyle Rode has 9 PPG with a team-high 4 APG to lead the Flames in assists while Joseph Venzant has a team-high 5.2 RPG to lead the Flames on the glass this season. As a team, Liberty is averaging 75.1 PPG on 47.6% shooting from the field, 39.6% from three and 73.4% from the foul line this season.
North Alabama is 4-11 ATS in their last 15 games against a team with a winning record and 9-19 ATS in their last 28 games overall while the under is 4-0 in their last 4 road games. Liberty is 7-0 ATS in their last 7 home games and 5-1 ATS in their last 6 games overall while the under is 5-1 in their last 6 games following an ATS loss.
I get the case to be made for either side in this game, but I’m leaning towards Liberty here. The Flames have done a good job walloping conference opponents at home, while North Alabama is inconsistent for the most part, but last time we saw the Lions on the road, they got crushed by a Lipscomb team that lost at Liberty by 29 points. I’ll side with Liberty laying the points here.
