Rice vs Middle Tennessee 1/11/23 College Basketball Picks, Predictions, Odds

The Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders and the Rice Owls meet Wednesday in college basketball action from Tudor Fieldhouse. Middle Tennessee is 9-7 overall this year. The Raiders lost to North Texas in their last game. As for Rice, they’re 11-4 overall and coming off a loss to Louisiana Tech. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.

Middle Tennessee was sitting at 8-4 after a dozen games this year. The losses in that time came to Winthrop, Missouri State, St. Bonaventure and Chattanooga. The Raiders are 1-3 in their last four with a lone win over Western Kentucky. 

In the North Texas game back on Saturday, the Blue Raiders were up 37-31 at the break. Middle Tennessee was drilled 25-14 in the second half however and lost 56-51. DeAndre Dishman put up 13 points to lead the team. 

Over on the Rice side, they were 9-3 at the 12-game mark. The Owls had fallen to Pepperdine, Middle Tennessee and Texas in that stretch. The Owls are 2-1 since with wins over Western Kentucky and UTEP before a loss to LA Tech. 

Last Thursday matched up against Louisiana Tech, the Owls scored 40 points in the first half, 29 more in the second and 13 in overtime but fell short 88-82. Travis Evee was tops on 28 points and Max Fiedler added 14 rebounds. 

PICK: I’m going to stick with Rice. These teams last met back on November 15 in an 81-46 blowout win for Middle Tennessee at Murphy Center. Rice shot a tepid 39.5 percent (14.3 percent from 3-point range), committed 18 turnovers and got out-rebounded 35-25. Even coming off the loss to Louisiana Tech, I like Rice to get some revenge in this one. The Owls have been scoring very well this year and the comfortable environment should help. It’ll be a good matchup.