The James Madison Dukes and the Northeastern Huskies meet Thursday in college basketball action from Matthews Arena. James Madison is currently 12-7 so far. The Dukes lost to Delaware in their last game. As for Northeastern, they’re 6-15 and coming off a loss to Charleston. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.
James Madison got off to a nice 11-3 start this year with losses to only Kent State, Murray State and Hofstra. It’s been a rough 1-4 stretch since then. The Dukes have lost to Elon, UNC Wilmington, Drexel and Delaware in that time.
Matched up against Delaware on Saturday, the Dukes were outscored 43-34 in the first half and 42-35 from there in an 85-69 loss. Tops in scoring was Vado Morse with 19 points, and Terrence Edwards came up with 17 points and seven boards.
Over on the Northeastern side, their first 10 games were a decent 6-4 run. The Huskies have lost to Davidson, Elon, William & Mary, Towson, James Madison, Drexel, Delaware, Hofstra, UNC Wilmington (twice) and Charleston since then.
In the Saturday game versus Charleston, the Huskies were within two points at the break. After a rough 40-24 deficit in the second half, Northeastern lost 81-63. Nikola Djogo led the team on 17 points with six rebounds during the defeat.
The Huskies are 1-10 ATS in their last 11 overall and 0-5 ATS in their last five as an underdog. Northeastern is 0-6 ATS in their last six after an ATS loss.
Meanwhile, the Dukes are 4-17 ATS in their last 21 Thursday games and 0-5 ATS in their last five after an ATS loss. James Madison is 9-4 ATS in their last 13 road games.
PICK: I’m going to stay with James Madison here. The Dukes have had a rough time over this 1-4 stretch, but they’re still scoring fairly well with 67 points or more in each of those games. Conversely, the Huskies haven’t hit more than 63 points in three of their last four outings (68 in the other). The last time these teams met up on January 11, James Madison secured an 89-66 win. This one might be closer but I still like the Dukes on the cover/win.