Presbyterian vs USC Upstate 1/8/22 College Basketball Picks, Predictions, Odds

The USC Upstate Spartans and the Presbyterian Blue Hose meet Saturday in college basketball action from Templeton Physical Education Center. USC Upstate is coming off a Thursday game versus Radford. In that one, the Spartans lost by five points. As for Presbyterian, they’re sitting at 8-8 this year and are fresh off a loss to North Carolina A&T. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.

USC Upstate went just 2-3 over their first five games this year, beating St. Andrews and SC State. Next came a losing streak to Furman, NC Central, Western Carolina, Wake Forest and Tennessee. After a win over Converse, the Spartans fell to Ohio. 

Matched up against Radford on Thursday, USC Upstate held a 44-39 lead at halftime. The Spartans were outscored 43-33 from there in an 82-77 loss. Top scorer Bryson Mozone posted 17 points with four assists and one rebound. 

Over on the Presbyterian side, they got off to a solid 6-3 start this year with losses to Clemson, Cincinnati and Tennessee. Since then the Hose are 2-5 with losses to Morehead State, Charleston, Wofford, Furman and North Carolina A&T. 

In the North Carolina A&T game on Wednesday, Presbyterian was outscored 36-28 in the second half on the way to a 65-57 loss. Leading scorer Winston Hill finished on 19 points, six rebounds and a block in 32 minutes of work. 

Presbyterian is 3-1-1 ATS in the last five after a straight-up loss and 8-1 ATS in their last nine after an ATS loss. The under is 4-1 in the Hose’s last five Saturday games. 

Meanwhile, the Spartans are 6-2-1 ATS in their last nine road games and 1-5 ATS in their last six overall. The over is 4-1 in USC Upstate’s last five overall. 

PICK: I’m going to take a stab on Presbyterian. The Hose really need a bounce-back game after shooting just 33.9 percent from the floor and 5-of-29 (17.2 percent) from 3-point range against NC A&T, though. It’s been a spotty scoring run for Presbyterian lately, and they’re going to have to clamp down on defense to keep the pace in this one. If all goes well I think the Hose can get in for a cover; should be an interesting matchup regardless.