Minnesota vs Alcorn State 12/29/22 College Basketball Picks, Predictions, Odds

UPDATE: This game has been cancelled due to travel-related issues. It will not be rescheduled. The Alcorn State Braves and the Minnesota Golden Gophers meet Thursday in college basketball action from Williams Arena. Alcorn State sits at 3-9 overall this year. The Braves lost to Dayton in their last matchup. As for Minnesota, they’re 6-6 on the season after a win versus Chicago State. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.

Alcorn State has beaten only Wichita State, Stephen F. Austin and CSUB this year. The losses otherwise have come to Ole Miss, UTEP, Texas A&M-CC, Arizona State, Grand Canyon, Tennessee, Southern Illinois, Seattle and Dayton. 

Matched up against Dayton last Tuesday, the Braves trailed 44-24 going into the second half. Alcorn State was blown out 44-22 from there and lost 88-46. Keondre Montgomery was the only double-digit scorer with 11 points and four boards. 

Over on the Minnesota side, they went 4-2 over their first six outings this year. The Gophers fell to DePaul and UNLV in that span. Minnesota has since gone 2-4 with losses to Virginia Tech, Purdue, Michigan and Mississippi State. 

In the Chicago State game last Thursday, Gophers were ahead 38-30 by the break. Minnesota had to scramble a bit in the second half but pulled off the win 58-55. Dawson Garcia was tops in scoring with 18 points and six rebounds. 

PICK: I’ll probably stay with Minnesota. Also probably not going near this one. The Gophers were fortunate to get by a bad Chicago State team at home in their last outing, shooting just 4-of-20 (20 percent) from 3-point range and 4-of-11 (36.4 percent) from the line. That said, Minnesota should be in the driver’s seat here. The Braves haven’t eclipsed 68 points in any of their last four games and they’re sitting on a six-game losing streak. I still don’t quite trust the Gophers after their last game, however.