The UC Irvine Anteaters and the Nicholls State Colonels meet Friday in college basketball action from Orleans Arena. UC Irvine comes into this one at 4-1 overall. The Anteaters beat Life Pacific in their last game. As for Nicholls State, they’re just 1-3 through four games and coming off a win over Jarvis Christian (TX). Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.
UC Irvine posted three strong wins out of the gate this year. The Anteaters beat Chapman 96-50, then Oregon 69-56 and LMU 79-64. UC Irvine took their first loss last Saturday, falling to Pepperdine 64-55.
In Monday’s matchup versus Life Pacific, UC Irvine got back in the win column in a big way. The Anteaters scored 52 points in the first and 64 more from there in a 116-54 result. Tops in scoring was Andre Henry with 14 points and five boards.
Over on the Nicholls State side, they lost to Arizona 117-75 in their opener and Wyoming 79-68 in game two. After a cancelled game versus Carver, Nicholls State lost again to BYU by a score of 87-73.
The Colonels finally got a victory versus Jarvis Christin (TX) on Tuesday. Nicholls State was up 45-30 by halftime and posted 52 more points from there in a 97-52 win. Caleb Huffman put up 24 points with nine rebounds to top the Colonels.
PICK: I’m probably staying with UC Irvine. The Anteaters didn’t have any trouble in their last matchup versus Life Pacific, shooting a blistering 66.7 percent from the floor with 55 rebounds and 29 team assists during a blowout. UC Irvine has scored 69 or more points in four of five games so far (55 in the Pepperdine loss) and shouldn’t have a ton of trouble racking up buckets in this one. I don’t think the Anteaters will have too many difficulties overall versus Nicholls State.