The Nicholls State Colonels and the San Diego Toreros meet Saturday in college basketball action from Orleans Arena. Nicholls State enters this one at 1-4 overall. The Colonels lost to UC Irvine in their last game. As for San Diego, they’re 4-2 this year and coming off a loss to New Mexico State. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.
Nicholls State had a tough opener matchup versus Arizona and lost 117-75. The Colonels ended up losing in game two to Wyoming and game three to BYU but finally got their first W against Jarvis Christian (TX) on Tuesday.
In the Friday matchup versus UC Irvine, the Colonels kept the pace in the first half with a 29-29 tie. Nicholls State lost steam after that and was outscored 54-27 in an 83-56 loss. Leading team scorer Micah Thomas put up 11 points.
Over on the Toreros’ side, they kicked off the year with three straight wins. San Diego beat Sonoma State, Florida Gulf Coast and NJIT, then took their first loss 91-89. Game five was another win over SDCC.
On Friday versus New Mexico State, San Diego fell behind 41-25 by halftime. The Toreros got better after the break but still lost 90-77. Jase Townsend put up 24 points, while Marcellus Earlington managed 15 points.
PICK: I’m likely going to stay with San Diego. The Toreros had a pretty ugly first half against a decent New Mexico State team on Friday, but they ended up recovering. San Diego shot 43.1 percent in that one, hitting 19-of-20 from the line and bagging 32 rebounds. The Toreros should be able to handle Nicholls State if they can get off to a good start here.