Middle Tennessee vs Marshall 2/24/22 College Basketball Picks, Predictions, Odds
Marshall Thundering Herd (11-17) vs. Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders (20-7)
February 24, 2022 7:00 pm EDT
The Line: Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders -8 / Marshall Thundering Herd +8; Over/Under: -154.5
(Get latest betting odds)
The Marshall Thundering Herd and the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders meet in college hoops action from the Murphy Athletic Center on Thursday night.
The Marshall Thundering Herd will look to build on wins in 3 of 4 after a 74-60 win over Southern Miss last time out. Taevion Kinsey leads the Herd in scoring with 19 PPG along with 5.1 RPG and 4.4 APG while Obinna Anochili-Killen has 11.9 PPG and a team-high 6.3 RPG to lead Marshall on the glass. Andrew Taylor has 14 PPG with 5.2 RPG and a team-high 4.5 APG to lead the Herd in assists and round out the group of double-digit scorers for Marshall so far this season. As a team, Marshall is averaging 74.8 PPG on 44.2% shooting from the field, 29.4% from three and 70.5% from the foul line while allowing 76.6 PPG on 45.2% shooting from the field and 34.8% from three this season.
The Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders will look to build on a six-game win streak after a 77-59 win over UTEP last time out. Josh Jefferson leads Middle Tennessee with 15 PPG and Donovan Sims has 10.9 PPG with a team-high 2.8 APG to lead the Blue Raiders in assists while Eli Lawrence has 10.3 PPG with 4.1 RPG, rounding out the trio of double-digit scorers for MTSU so far this season. Deandre Dishman also has 8.6 PPG and a team-high 4.8 RPG as well this season. As a team, Middle Tennessee is averaging 75.1 PPG on 45.8% shooting from the field, 33.6% shooting from three and 74.6% from the foul line while allowing 67.1 PPG on 42.9% shooting from the field and 31.7% from three this season.
Marshall is 1-6 ATS in their last 7 road games against a team with a winning home record and 1-6-1 ATS in their last 8 Thursday games while the under is 7-1-1 in their last 9 Thursday games. Middle Tennessee is 10-2-2 ATS in their last 14 home games and 5-0 ATS in their last 5 games following a win while the over is 4-1 in their last 5 games against a team with a winning percentage below .400.
I get the case to be made for both sides here, but I’m leaning towards Middle Tennessee in this one. The Blue Raiders are closing in on the C-USA East top spot while Marshall is at the point of preparing for a play in game. The difference is that the Blue Raiders have just been taking it to their opponents in recent victories and with the way Marshall can struggle to defend, I have to side with Middle Tennessee laying the points here.
