Rutgers vs Hofstra Pick – Basketball Predictions & Odds 3/14/23

The Rutgers Scarlet Knights and the Hofstra Pride meet in college basketball action from the Jersey Mike’s Arena on Tuesday night.

Rutgers Scarlet Knights Team Preview

The Rutgers Scarlet Knights finished the year with a record of 19-14 in conference play and 10-10 in Big Ten conference play to earn the 9-seed. Rutgers would upend Michigan before falling to Purdue in the quarterfinals and were snubbed on Selection Sunday. Clifford Omoruyi leads the Scarlet Knights in scoring and rebounding with 13.2 PPG and 9.7 RPG while Cam Spencer has 12.9 PPG with 3 APG as the only other double-digit scorer for Rutgers so far this season. Paul Mulcahy also has a team-high 4.9 APG to lead Rutgers in assists this season. As a team, Rutgers is averaging 67.9 PPG on 42.8% shooting from the field, 31.8% from three and 70.2% from the foul line this season

Hofstra Pride Team Preview

The Hofstra Pride finished the year at 24-6 overall, including a 16-2 mark in CAA conference play to earn a share of the CAA regular season title. Hofstra would take down William & Mary in the quarterfinals before losing to UNC-Wilmington in the semifinals of the conference tournament. Aaron Estrada leads the Pride in scoring and rebounding with 20.5 PPG and 5.5 RPG while Tyler Thomas has 16.3 PPG as the only other double-digit scorer for Hofstra up to this point in the year. Jaquan Carlos also has a team-high 4.8 APG to lead Hofstra in assists this season. As a team, Hofstra is averaging 74.7 PPG on 48.1% shooting from the field, 36.7% from three and 73.7% from the foul line this season.

Trends

Hofstra is 4-1 ATS in their last 5 road games and 16-5 ATS in their last 21 games overall while the under is 4-1 in their last 5 road games against a team with a winning home record. Rutgers is 11-5 ATS in their last 16 home games and 11-4 ATS in their last 15 games against a team with a winning percentage above .600 while the under is 8-3 in their last 11 games overall.

Pick

I’m sticking with Hofstra here. I really have to wonder about the level of motivation for Rutgers here, it’s hard for a power conference team to not make the tournament to begin with, but this Rutgers team has to feel slighted that they were snubbed and had a decent resume to build a case around. Hofstra will be up for this postseason tournament and a chance to on the road to take down Rutgers could add fuel to their fire here. Give me Hofstra.