The Denver Pioneers and the Oral Roberts Golden Eagles meet Thursday in college basketball action from Mabee Center. Denver is 12-10 so far this season. The Pioneers lost to South Dakota State in their most recent outing. As for Oral Roberts, they’re 17-4 following a win over North Dakota on Saturday. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.
Denver Pioneers
Denver went 10-6 over their first 16 games, losing to Sacramento State (twice), UCLA, Omaha, Oregon State and Oral Roberts in that time. The Pioneers are 2-4 in their last six outings with losses to St. Thomas MN, Western Illinois, North Dakota State and South Dakota State.
On Saturday in the South Dakota State game, the Pioneers were down 37-34 by halftime. Denver didn’t get any closer on a 39-27 second half and lost 76-61. Lukas Kisunas and Touko Tainamo each scored 14 points to lead the team.
Oral Roberts Golden Eagles
Over on the Oral Roberts side, they lost just three of their first 15 games versus Saint Mary’s, Houston and Utah State. The Eagles have gone 5-1 in their last six with wins over UMKC, Western Illinois, St. Thomas MN, North Dakota State and North Dakota.
Matched up against North Dakota on Saturday, Oral Roberts was down 39-37 at the break. The Golden Eagles hit a 47-33 run in the second half and took the comeback win 84-72. Max Abmas was tops on the team with 27 points and six assists.
ANDREW’S FREE PICK
I’ll probably stick with Oral Roberts here. The line’s probably a little too thick to mess with, though. The Eagles had a shaky first half against a struggling North Dakota team in their last outing, but to their credit Oral Roberts finished strong and got the win. The Eagles only have one loss to a non-ranked team (Utah State on November 22) so far; they’ve been playing great all season. As for Denver, they lost 80-62 the last time these teams met up back on December 31 at Hamilton Gymnasium. The Pioneers have hit 70 or more points in five of six games since then, so it wouldn’t be surprising to see Denver hang around in a relatively high-scoring rematch.