The Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders and the North Texas Mean Green meet Saturday in college basketball action from UNT Coliseum. Middle Tennessee is sitting at 9-5 so far. The Raiders lost to Rice in their last game. As for North Texas, they’re 8-4 and fresh off a loss to UAB. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.
Middle Tennessee got off to a nice 7-1 start this year with a loss to Stephen F. Austin as their only blemish. The Raiders are just 2-4 since then with losses to Murray State, Ole Miss, Chattanooga and Rice.
Matched up against Rice on Thursday, the Blue Raiders scored 25 points in the first half and 36 more from there in a 65-61 loss. Leading scorers Eli Lawrence and Josh Jefferson each scored 13 points, combining for five rebounds as well.
Over on the North Texas side, they stumbled to a 2-3 start this year but things have looked up since then. The Green won six straight over Drake, LSU Shreveport, UMass, Sam Houston, Wichita State and Rice before the loss to UAB.
In Thursday’s matchup against UAB, the Mean Green were outscored 34-29 in the second half on the way to a 69-63 defeat. Mardrez McBride topped the team on 17 points, and Tylor Perry added 15 points with three boards.
The Green are 4-0 ATS in their last four Saturday games and 4-0 ATS in their last four after an ATS loss. North Texas is 11-5 ATS in their last 16 overall.
Meanwhile, the Raiders are 4-1 ATS in their last five Saturday games and 6-1-2 ATS in their last nine overall. The over is 5-1 in Middle Tennessee’s last six Saturday games.
PICK: I’m probably sticking with North Texas here. The Green were outplayed by a good UAB team in their last outing despite shooting 48 percent from the field. North Texas struggled with a 39-25 rebounding deficit (13-5 offensive), which certainly didn’t help.
As for Middle Tennessee, they’ve scored 65 or fewer points in three of their last four games. It’s going to take quite a push to keep up here if North Texas is on point, and I don’t think the Raiders have the legs to do it.