Northern Illinois vs Buffalo 2/24/22 College Basketball Picks, Predictions, Odds

The Buffalo Bulls and the Northern Illinois Huskies meet in college basketball action from the NIU Convocation Center on Thursday night.

The Buffalo Bulls will look to build on a seven-game win streak after an 86-84 win over Miami-Ohio last time out. Jeenathan Williams leads the Bulls in scoring with 19 PPG along with 5.2 RPG while Ronaldo Segu has 15 PPG with a team-high 5.3 APG this season. Josh Mballa leads the Bulls on the glass with 8.7 RPG along with 13.7 PPG to make up the group of double-digit scorers for Buffalo so far this season. Maceo Jack also has 9.8 PPG with 4.5 RPG as well this season. As a team, Buffalo is averaging 81.6 PPG on 46.1% shooting from the field, 34.5% from three and 71.4% from the foul line while allowing 72.3 PPG on 42.1% shooting from the field and 30.2% from three this season.

The Northern Illinois Huskies will look to rebound from a 74-72 road loss to Eastern Michigan last time out. Keshawn Williams leads NIU in scoring with 16.5 PPG while Trendon Hankerson has 11.3 PPG with 3.7 RPG as the only other double-digit scorer for the Huskies so far this season. Kaleb Thornton has 8.6 PPG and 4.1 APG while Anthony Crump’s got 5 RPG as well this season. As a team, Northern Illinois is averaging 64.7 points per game on 42.1% from the field, 33.1% from three and 67.1% from the foul line while allowing 72.2 PPG on 45.5% shooting from the floor and 32.9% from three this season.

Buffalo is 13-6-1 ATS in their last 20 road games and 5-2 ATS in their last 7 road games against a team with a losing home record while the over is 5-2 in their last 7 games following a win. Northern Illinois is 4-0 ATS in their last 4 games overall and 5-12-1 ATS in their last 18 home games while the over is 6-0-1 in their last 7 games as a home underdog.

I get the case to be made for both teams here, but I’m leaning towards the over here. Northern Illinois has had a tendency to surprise some teams as of late and the Bulls really burned me against Miami Ohio by letting the RedHawks rally and get back into that game. I think we could have another high-scoring game here, so give me the over.