Memphis vs East Carolina Prediction 1/11/25 College Basketball Picks Today

The East Carolina Pirates and the Memphis Tigers meet Saturday in college basketball action from FedExForum. Here’s a Memphis vs East Carolina prediction. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best Memphis vs East Carolina pick.

East Carolina Pirates Betting Preview

This year the Pirates opened up their season with a 7-1 stretch, but since then it’s been a rough run as the team has plummeted back toward the .500 mark. East Carolina lost to only Jacksonville State in their first eight games. Otherwise it was wins over NC Wesleyan, Coastal Carolina, Mount Olive, George Mason, Stetson, UIC and North Carolina A&T. The Pirates have gone just 2-6 over their second eight-game stretch of the year, however. The two victories in that time were over Florida International and Temple. Otherwise the losses came versus UNC Wilmington, South Carolina, North Alabama, Gardner-Webb, South Florida and Florida Atlantic. The result has been a 9-7 run through 16 games so far for the Pirates.

Matched up against Temple back on Wednesday, East Carolina was able to eke out a close victory. The Pirates were in trouble after one half with a 41-32 deficit, but stormed back from there with a 48-38 run to eke out the 80-79 result. Tops in scoring was RJ Felton, who came off the bench to lead the way on 23 points, 12 rebounds, four assists and two blocks for a double-double. CJ Walker added 18 points and nine boards, nearly doubling up himself. Also in double-figures were Jayshayne Woodard (15 points; five rebounds) and Jordan Riley (11 points; three rebounds), while Trevion LaBeaux chipped in five points from the bench.

Memphis Tigers Betting Preview

Over on the Memphis side, they opened up the year on a nice 6-0 run themselves. The Tigers have been able stay pretty steady since then as well. Those first half dozen wins came over Missouri, UNLV, Ohio, San Francisco, UConn and Michigan State. A 1-2 stretch came after that however, as Memphis beat Louisiana Tech in between losses to Auburn and Arkansas State. Since then it’s been a 5-1 run with a lone loss to Mississippi State in that time. Otherwise Memphis has taken out Clemson, Virginia, Ole Miss, Florida Atlantic and North Texas in that time for a 12-3 overall run so far this year.

In the North Texas game on Sunday, the Tigers exited the locker room looking up at a slim 33-32 edge on the scoreboard. Memphis kept the Mean Green at bay from there on a 35-32 run, eventually powering out the win 68-64. PJ Haggerty posted 27 points with five rebounds and three steals to lead the team. Dain Dainja came off the bench for 14 points, three rebounds and one assist in 27 minutes of action. Tyrese Hunter also finished in double-figures with 12 points, six rebounds, three steals and two assists in 38 minutes of work on the court.

Why the Memphis Tigers will win

• East Carolina has lost each of its last eight games at FedExForum.
• Memphis has won each of its last seven home games against East Carolina.
• Memphis has won the first half in seven of its last eight games against East Carolina.

Why the East Carolina Pirates will win

• Memphis has lost the first half in five of its last six day games against the American Athletic Conference.

Memphis vs East Carolina Prediction

I’m leaning toward Memphis. The Tigers played a close game against a tricky North Texas team in their last outing but everything worked out well in the end. There’s plenty to clean up—namely the 30-21 rebounding deficit and the 15 turnovers for 12 Mean Green points. That said, Memphis also shot very well with 54.5 percent from the field. The Tigers are a consistent scoring team so far this year. They’ve hit 68 or more points in 13 of 15 overall games, but three of those have come in the last five outings.

As for East Carolina, they had to mount an epic comeback against a hot-shooting Temple team (56.3 percent from 3-point range) in their last outing, but were able to pull off the win in the end. The Pirates have given up 75 or more points in four straight games (a 1-3 run) however, so Memphis should have plenty of room here.