Niagara Purple Eagles (13-11) vs. Quinnipiac Bobcats (19-5)
February 18, 2024 2:00 pm EDT
The Line: Quinnipiac Bobcats -7.5; Over/Under: 150
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The Niagara Purple Eagles and the Quinnipiac Bobcats meet Sunday in college basketball action from TD Bank Sports Center. Niagara is fresh off a win over Fairfield that brought the Eagles to 13-11 on the year. As for Quinnipiac, they’re 19-5 so far following a loss to Mount St. Mary’s. Let’s get into our Niagara vs. Quinnipiac prediction. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.
Niagara Purple Eagles
The Eagles didn’t start out the season so hot on a 3-8 run over their first 11 outings. Niagara would then go 7-1 across the next eight, with a lone loss to Siena on January 15. It’s been a 3-2 stretch since then with wins over Saint Peter’s, Canisius and Fairfield in that time.
In the Fairfield matchup on Friday, the Purple Eagles held a 36-30 edge going into the second half. Niagara was outscored 33-29 from there but managed to hang on for the win 65-63. Ahmad Henderson led the charge on 15 points with three rebounds, and all five starters finished in double-figures.
Quinnipiac Bobcats
Over on the Bobcats’ side, they went a nice 9-4 over their first 13 games this year. The only losses in that time came versus UMass, Canisius, Yale and Florida. Following a 10-game winning streak from there, the Bobcats took another loss last weekend to Mount St. Mary’s.
Matched up against Mount St. Mary’s last Saturday, the Bobcats were able to hang around in the first half with a 44-43 deficit. Quinnipiac was outscored pretty badly from there 52-36 in a 96-79 loss, though. Matt Balanc topped the team with 19 points and four rebounds in the defeat.
ANDREW’S FREE NIAGARA VS QUINNIPIAC PREDICTION
I’ll stick with Quinnipiac. The Bobcats need a good bounce-back effort here after a rough loss to a middling Mount St. Mary’s team, though. Quinnipiac shot just 38 percent in that one and got outmuscled on the boards 43-33. The good news is that they’re still scoring well, with 77 or more points in four straight games.
These teams last met up way back on December 3 in a 75-68 overtime road win for Quinnipiac. It was a pretty sloppy game with 14 turnovers on each side, and the Bobcats shot 43.5 percent to the Eagles 38.8 percent from the field. Quinnipiac should be comfortable in the home rematch, and I like a cover here in a return to form.
