Belmont Bruins (19-12) vs. Northern Iowa Panthers (18-13)
March 8, 2024 3:30 pm EDT
The Line: Northern Iowa Panthers -1; Over/Under: -
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The Belmont Bruins and the Northern Iowa Panthers meet Friday in Missouri Valley Tournament college basketball action from Enterprise Center. Let’s get into our Belmont vs. Northern Iowa prediction. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.
Belmont Bruins
The Bruins got off to an 11-5 start this year, but then hit a rough 1-6 run during January/February. Since then Belmont is doing well with an 8-1 stretch, taking out Murray State, Valparaiso, Southern Illinois, UIC, Missouri State, Murray State, Evansville and Valparaiso in succession.
In Wednesday’s tournament game versus Valparaiso, the Bruins stormed out to a 48-22 run in the first half. Belmont hit a 39-38 stretch the rest of the way and took the easy victory 86-61. Leading team scorer Malik Dia finished with a double-double on 22 points and 10 boards.
Northern Iowa Panthers
Over on the Panthers’ side, they were 12-8 over their first 20 games then took losses to Drake, Bradley, Murray State and UIC in the next five. Northern Iowa is 5-1 in their last six though, beating Valparaiso, Bradley, Drake, Valparaiso again and Southern Illinois in that time.
Back on Sunday versus Southern Illinois, Northern Iowa closed out the regular season with a road win. The Panthers were tied up at 34-34 by halftime, then hit a 48-36 run to close out an 82-70 victory. Bowen Born was the top scorer on his 19 points and three boards.
ANDREW’S FREE BELMONT VS NORTHERN IOWA PREDICTION
I’ll probably lean toward Northern Iowa here. You could call it either way, though. The Panthers started a little slowly against a pretty good SIU team in their latest outing but everything worked out well. The Panthers shot 49 percent in that one with 35 rebounds, 12 team assists and just six turnovers in a well-rounded effort. That makes 68 or more points in six straight outings—a 5-1 run.
These teams split the season series, with the road squad getting the win each time. Northern Iowa took the most recent win 83-72 back on January 17. Both teams shot very well in that one with similar rebounding numbers, but the Panthers bagged 17 points off 11 Belmont turnovers. The Bruins are playing great over their last four games so it’s doubtful we’ll see them so sloppy in this tournament matchup. I like a quality effort from both teams in a close finish here. Should be a fun one.
