Marshall vs Northern Iowa 12/18/21 College Basketball Picks, Predictions, Odds

The Northern Iowa Panthers and the Marshall Thundering Herd meet in college hoops action from the Cam Henderson Center on Saturday afternoon.

The Northern Iowa Panthers come into this game looking to build on a 66-56 win over Jackson State last time out. AJ Green leads the Panthers in scoring with 17.4 PPG while Noah Carter has 10.8 PPG as the only other double-digit scorer for UNI so far this season. Nate Helse has 9.3 PPG with 4.9 RPG while Austin Phyfe and Trae Berhow each have 8.3 PPG with Berhow leading UNI on the glass with 5.1 RPG while Phyfe has a team-high 2.8 APG to lead the Panthers in assists. As a team, Northern Iowa is averaging 70.9 PPG on 44.4% shooting from the field, 38.2% from three and 70.9% from the foul line while allowing 68.9 PPG on 43.6% shooting from the field and 33.6% from three this season.

The Marshall Thundering Herd will try to bounce back from a 75-65 loss to Ohio in their last game. Taevion Kinsey leads Marshall in scoring with 20.6 PPG along with 5.4 RPG and 4 APG while Andrew Taylor has 13.3 PPG with 6.2 RPG and a team-high 5.6 APG to lead the Herd in assists. Obinna Anochili-Killen has 12.6 PPG with a team-high 7.4 RPG to lead the Herd on the glass and cap off the trio of double-digit scorers for Marshall so far this season. Darius George also has 9.8 PPG and 5.8 RPG for Marshall this season. As a team, Marshall is averaging 81.5 PPG on 46.1% shooting from the field, 28.7% from three and 70.8% from the foul line while allowing 73.5 PPG on 41.7% shooting from the field and 32.8% from three this season.

Northern Iowa is 1-6 ATS in their last 7 games following a win and 1-5-1 ATS in their last 7 games against a team with a winning record while the under is 10-1 in their last 11 games following an ATS loss. Marshall is 0-7-1 ATS in their last 8 home games against a team with a losing road record and 0-2-2 ATS in their last 4 games following a loss while the over is 29-10 in their last 39 games against a team with a winning percentage below .400.

I get that this line kind of looks funny given that Marshall’s had the much larger amount of success so far this season, but the reality is that sometimes it’s just an oversight by the books. Marshall’s the better team here and while UNI has a deep roster with a lot of veteran presence, the Panthers haven’t really put it to use as the results have not been there. I think Marshall is also the more consistent team and I think they get a win and cover in this one.