The Oakland Golden Grizzlies and the Northern Kentucky Norse meet Thursday in Horizon League college basketball action from BB&T Arena. Oakland enters this one at 13-18 on the season. As for Northern Kentucky, they’re sitting at 19-12 overall. These teams last met on Saturday in a nine-point Northern Kentucky victory. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.
Oakland Golden Grizzlies
The Golden Grizzlies managed a 9-15 record through their first 24 games this year. Since then, Oakland has hit a 4-3 stretch with wins over Cleveland state, Green Bay, IUPUI and Wright State. The losses came to Milwaukee, Detroit and Northern Kentucky.
In Saturday’s matchup versus Northern Kentucky, Oakland jumped out to a 38-29 halftime lead. The Grizzlies couldn’t hold on however, and ended up losing 78-69. Leading scorer Jalen Moore put up 27 points with two rebounds.
Northern Kentucky Norse
Over on the Northern Kentucky side, they managed a 15-9 run in their first 24 games of the year. The Norse are 4-3 in their last seven with wins over IUPUI, Fort Wayne, Detroit and Oakland alongside losses to Youngstown State, Wright State and Cleveland State.
Matched up against the Grizzlies on Saturday, the Norse came back from their halftime deficit with a 49-31 second half in the victory. Sam Vinson was the team’s top scorer with 19 points, and Marques Warrick added 14 points with three assists.
ANDREW’S FREE PICK
I’ll take a stab on Oakland here. You could make a good case either way, though. These teams first met up back on January 6 at BB&T Arena in a tense 64-63 comeback road win for Oakland. The Grizzlies were up at halftime in the Saturday rematch but couldn’t hold on. Oakland has scored 69 or more points in five straight games and should be able to flirt with 70 again here. Northern Kentucky has been pretty sketchy over the last nine games, so there should be some opportunities for the Grizzlies. I like another fairly tight matchup with an Oakland cover in the end. Should be a fun one to watch.