The Murray State Racers and the Northern Iowa Panthers meet Tuesday in college basketball action from McLeod Center. Murray State comes into this one at 9-7 overall. The Racers lost to Drake in their last game. As for Northern Iowa, they’re currently 8-8 this season following a win over Southern Illinois. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.
Murray State managed a 6-4 run over their first 10 games, losing to Saint Louis, UMass, Chattanooga and Bellarmine along the way. The Racers are 3-3 since then with wins over Austin Peay, Evansville and Bradley.
In the Drake game on Saturday, the Racers were drilled 44-29 in the first half. Murray State kept better pace from there but ended up losing 82-64. JaCobi Wood was the lead scorer on 20 points with three rebounds.
Over on the Northern Iowa side, they were 3-7 though their first 10 with wins over Wartburg, Northern Illinois and Evansville. The Panthers are 5-1 in their last six with wins over Towson, St. Bonaventure, Illinois, State, Valparaiso and Southern Illinois.
Matched up against the Salukis on Saturday, the Panthers scored 35 points in the first half and 34 more in the second for a 69-57 win. Leading scorer Bowen Born had 27 points, and Tytan Anderson doubled on 10 points and 10 rebounds.
PICK: I might take a stab on Northern Iowa here. The Panthers are on a nice 5-1 run right now, and though they haven’t been scoring all that well (fewer than 70 points in five of those six), they’ve been solid on defense. Northern Iowa has allowed 67 or fewer points in each of their last five victories. As for Murray State, they’ve scored 68 or fewer points in seven of their last eight outings. I like Northern Iowa to put the clamps on defensively and power out a cover in this one. Should be a good game.