La Salle Explorers (10-7) vs. Saint Joseph's Hawks (10-6)
January 15, 2024 4:00 pm EDT
The Line: Saint Joseph's Hawks -11.5; Over/Under: 149.5
(Get latest betting odds)
The La Salle Explorers and the Saint Joseph’s Hawks meet Monday in college basketball action from Hagan Arena. La Salle is fresh off a loss to VCU which dropped the Explorers to 10-7 overall. As for Saint Joseph’s, they’re sitting at 10-6 after a loss to Loyola. Let’s get into our La Salle vs. Saint Joseph’s prediction. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.
La Salle Explorers
The Explorers posted a nice run over their first 10 games, losing to only Duke and Temple during that stretch. Since then La Salle is just 2-5 however. The losses in that time have come versus Miami, Howard, George Mason, UMass and VCU (with wins over Rosemont and Fordham).
In the VCU matchup on Saturday, the Explorers managed a 33-30 edge going into the second half. La Salle was outscored 41-32 from there however, and ended up losing 71-65. Leading team scorer Jhamir Brickus finished with 20 points and three rebounds.
Saint Joseph’s Hawks
Over on the Saint Joseph’s side, they posted a 10-3 run over their first 13 games with wins over Lafayette, Pennsylvania, Stonehill, Sacred Heart, Villanova, Temple, American, Princeton, Iona and Loyola MD. It’s been losses to Rhode Island, Saint Louis and Loyola since then, though.
Back on Saturday versus Loyola, the Hawks were down by three points going into the second half. Saint Joseph’s kept the pace from there on 39 more points but still lost 78-75. Erik Reynolds was the team’s top scorer with his 26 points, four rebounds and four assists.
ANDREW’S FREE LA SALLE VS SAINT JOSEPH’S PREDICTION
I’ll stick with Saint Joseph’s. You could call this one either way, though. The Hawks were outmuscled on the boards 41-31 (14-6 offensive) during their latest loss to Loyola. Outside of that though, Saint Joseph’s didn’t play all that badly. The Hawks have scored 74 or more points in seven straight games, but they’re also giving up a lot of points on defense.
As for La Salle, they’ve been at 66 points or fewer in each of their last four losses. It’ll be important for the Explorers to get their offense moving here, but I don’t think they’ll quite cover. It should be close, though.
