The McNeese State Cowboys and the LSU Tigers meet Thursday in college basketball action from Pete Maravich Assembly Center. LSU is cruising along well so far this year at 3-0. The Tigers are coming off a win over Liberty. As for McNeese State, they’re 1-2 on the year following a win over Champion Christian College in their last game. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.
McNeese State had a couple of tough matchups to start out the season and ended up going 0-2 over their first pair. The opener game was against SMU and turned into an 86-62 defeat. Game two was similar against TCU in a 77-61 defeat for the Cowboys.
McNeese State finally got a victory over Champion Christian College in their last game. The Cowboys scored 58 points in both halves on the way to a 116-66 blowout. Brendan Medley-Bacon led the team on 20 points with four rebounds and three steals.
Over on the LSU side, they had zero issues with Louisiana-Monroe in their opener and cruised to a 101-39 blowout win. The Tigers kept it going against Texas State in game two with another victory, this time 84-59 following 52 second-half points.
In their third game of the year, LSU matched up against Liberty. The Tigers had a 26-25 halftime deficit but surged from there in a 74-58 victory. Darius Days was the leading scorer with his 26 points and seven rebounds.
LSU is 7-0-1 ATS in their last eight at home and 6-1 ATS in their last seven after an ATS win. The Tigers are 8-1-1 ATS in their last 10 overall.
Meanwhile, the Cowboys are 5-1 ATS in their last six road games and 5-2 ATS in their last seven as an underdog. McNeese is 2-5 ATS in their last seven Thursday games.
PICK: I’m probably going to stay with LSU, but their slow starts over the last couple of games are somewhat concerning. The Tigers were down 37-32 to Texas State in game two and 26-25 against Liberty at the respective halftime breaks. LSU woke up in the second halves of both, but it’s still worth mentioning. All of that said, I don’t think McNeese State will give LSU much trouble so the Tigers should be okay on a cover.