The Columbia Lions and the Sacred Heart Pioneers meet Sunday in college basketball action from William H. Pitt Center. Columbia is 0-2 this year and coming off a loss to UMass Lowell. As for Sacred Heart, they’re 1-1 following a loss to Rutgers in their last outing. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.
Columbia opened up their year versus Rutgers and quickly fell behind. The Lions posted just 14 points in the second half, fizzling in a 75-35 loss. No Lions player was in double-figures; Zinou Bedri led the team on eight points and five rebounds.
In game two, Columbia had another rough outing versus UMass Lowell. The Lions were down 36-24 by halftime and limped to an 89-62 loss. Bedri was again the top scorer with 17 points and eight rebounds in 26 minutes of work.
Over on the Sacred Heart side, they got off to a good start versus Hartford in their first game. The Pioneers scored 44 points in the first half and held on for the 77-70 win. Joey Reilly led the team on 23 points, and Aidan Carpenter added 15 points.
The Pioneers’ second game versus Rutgers didn’t go so well. Sacred Heart scored just 25 points in each half during an 88-50 loss. Raheem Solomon led the way on 14 points, and Nico Galette posted 10 points.
PICK: I’m likely going with Sacred Heart. The Pioneers had a solid game in their opener versus Hartford, but were overmatched in the Rutgers game. Sacred Heart shot 39.6 percent in that one with 5-of-19 (26.3 percent) from 3-point range. The 25 turnovers didn’t help, either.
It’s a small sample size, but Columbia has given up 164 points across two games so far so the Pioneers should have plenty of opportunities to score in this one. I like Columbia to keep pace for a while before Sacred Heart surges to the cover.