The Utah Valley Wolverines and the Sam Houston State Bearkats meet Thursday in college basketball action from Johnson Coliseum. Utah Valley is 1-0 so far this year after an opener victory versus Carroll MT. As for Sam Houston, they beat Pacific by seven points to take a win in their first game as well. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.

Utah Valley Wolverines 

The Wolverines had their ups and downs last year in a bittersweet campaign. Utah Valley finished 28-9 overall and 15-3 in the WAC for a regular-season championship, but fell to Southern Utah in the second game of the conference tournament. After an NIT berth, the Wolverines were ultimately dispatched 88-86 in overtime by UAB in the semifinals. 

Moving ahead to the 2023-24 season, Utah Valley has one win under their belt already. That one came Monday versus Carroll MT 81-73; the Wolverines scored 35 points in the first half and 46 from there. Topping the scorers was Tanner Toolson with 25 points and one rebound. Drake Allen also hit double-digits with 20 points, six rebounds and four assists. 

Sam Houston State Bearkats 

Over on the Sam Houston side, they’re looking for a little revenge in this matchup after finishing in second place among the WAC standings last season. The Bearkats went 26-8 overall and 14-4 in conference play, ultimately losing to Grand Canyon in the tournament and to North Texas in the NIT. Sam Houston has since moved to Conference USA play for some new surroundings this season. 

The Bearkats bagged a pretty solid road win over Pacific in their opener matchup. After a 25-25 tie in the first half, Sam Houston scored another 39 points on the way to a 64-57 win. Leading the way was Lamar Wilkerson on 15 points and three rebounds. Davon Barnes had a rough shooting night (2-of-10) but hit eight free throws for a 13-point total.

ANDREW’S FREE PICK 

I’ll probably lean toward Sam Houston. This is going to be a bit of a weird matchup, as this would have been a must-watch conference rivalry game a season ago. The Bearkats lost the only meeting between these teams last year—an 80-64 road result—so there’s a bit of extra intrigue involved. In any case, Sam Houston had a pretty cold shooting effort against Pacific (37.3 percent) and went just 3-of-16 from behind the arc. That said, the defense was solid, holding the Tigers to 37.5 percent shooting and 16.7 percent from 3-point range on the other side. The Bearkats are going to need to be sharper here (and cut down on the 19 turnovers from Monday’s win), but I think they’ll be okay on a cover in the end. Should be a fun one.