The Denver Pioneers and the Omaha Mavericks meet Thursday in college basketball action from Baxter Arena. Denver is 9-19 on the year so far. The Pioneers lost to South Dakota in their last game. As for Omaha, they’re 4-22 and coming off a loss to South Dakota State. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.
Denver has had quite the shaky season so far. The Pioneers have only been able to win consecutive games once. In the last six it’s been a 1-5 run with losses to UMKC, Oral Roberts, North Dakota State, South Dakota State and South Dakota.
Matched up against South Dakota on Saturday, the Pioneers were within two points at halftime. Denver was outscored 39-45 from there in an 84-76 loss. KJ Hunt led the team with 19 points, six rebounds and five assists.
Over on the Omaha side, they’ve gone the entire season without winning consecutive games. Needless to say it’s been a tough ride. The Mavericks have lost to North Dakota State, North Dakota, South Dakota and South Dakota State in the last quartet.
In the South Dakota State game, the Mavericks were drilled on a 19-44 deficit in the first half. Omaha got better from there on 42 points but still lost 82-61. Nick Ferrarini was tops with 14 bench points, three rebounds and two assists.
The Mavericks are 6-1 ATS in their last seven at home and 5-2 ATS in the last seven after an ATS win. Omaha is 5-1 ATS in their last six Thursday games.
Meanwhile, the Pioneers are 4-0 ATS in the last four road games and 1-5 ATS in the last six Thursday games. The over is 22-7 in Denver’s last 29 after an ATS loss.
PICK: I’m going to stay with Denver here. There’s admittedly not much to get excited about in this one, though. Denver has been all over the place in scoring across this 1-5 stretch, but the good news is that they’ve hit 76 or more in three of the last five. Omaha hasn’t made it to 70 points in four of their last five outings either. All things considered, Denver should have control here but I’m probably not going near it.