The Sacramento State Hornets and the Northern Colorado Bears meet Saturday in college basketball action from Bank of Colorado Arena. Sacramento State is sitting at 4-6 so far. The Hornets lost to Southern Utah in their last game. As for Northern Colorado, they’re currently 8-7 and coming off a win versus Southern Utah. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.
Sacramento State managed to go 3-2 over their first five games, taking out William Jessup, Cal Poly and UC Davis. Since then it’s been a 1-4 run with losses to Arizona, Montana, Montana State and Southern Utah in that stretch.
In the Southern Utah matchup on December 30, the Hornets scored just 25 points in the first half and 26 more from there in a 64-51 defeat. Leading scorer Bryce Fowler finished on 12 points, six rebounds and one assist.
Over on the Northern Colorado side, they were 3-1 to start the year before four straight losses to Texas, Cal Bapist, San Jose State and Colorado State. the Bears have hit a 5-2 run since then with victories over Montana State, Montana, South Dakota, Northern NM and Southern Utah.
Matched up against Southern Utah on January 1, the Bears went into the break with a 44-32 lead. Northern Colorado ended up winning 91-81. Dru Kuxhausen led the team with 25 points, four assists and two rebounds.
The over is 7-1 in the Bears’ last eight overall and 5-1 in their last six at home. Northern Colorado is 3-8 ATS in their last 11 as a home favorite.
Meanwhile, the Hornets are 6-1 ATS in their last seven as a favorite and the over is 4-1 in their last five Saturday games. The over is 6-2 in Sac State’s last eight road games.
PICK: I’m going to stick with Northern Colorado. The Bears have played some pretty good basketball during this 5-2 run. They’ve hit 74 or more points in six of those outings, and overall Northern Colorado has performed well against comparable teams. Sacramento State has been at 67 or fewer points in each of their last five games, so if the Bears get going I don’t see the Hornets keeping pace here.