The Montana State Bobcats and the Seattle Redhawks meet Saturday in college basketball action from Connolly Center. Montana State is 1-0 thus far following a blowout win over NWIC in the opener. As for Seattle, they’re coming off a game one win as well with an 11-point advantage over Prairie View A&M. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.

Montana State Bobcats 

Last year the Bobcats had another pretty successful campaign. Montana State finished 25-10 overall with a 15-3 record in Big Sky matchups, putting them in second place (behind Eastern Washington). The Bobcats were able to power their way through the conference tournament once again, but lost to Kansas State in the first round of the national tourney. 

Montana State had a pretty easy opener matchup on Monday versus Northwest Indian College. The Bobcats scored 45 points in the first half and another 58 after the break in a 103-63 win. Six different Montana State players finished in double-figures, including Robert Ford’s 15 points and five assists in 19 minutes. 

Seattle Redhawks

Over on the Redhawks’ side, they got to 20 wins once again last year (20-12, to be exact) and went 11-7 in Western Athletic Conference games. Seattle finished in fifth place among the standings after losing three of their final five games. In the WAC Tournament, the Redhawks lost to Grand Canyon in the first game. 

Matched up against Prairie View A&M on Wednesday, Seattle jumped out to a 39-27 lead in the first half. The Redhawks cruised from there in a 71-60 win. John Christofilis led the way with 18 points and five rebounds, while Cameron Tyson added 15 points with eight rebounds in 37 minutes of work. 

ANDREW’S FREE PICK 

I’m going to try the Redhawks in this one. Seattle played a pretty solid opener at home on Wednesday, shooting 43.1 percent from the floor with a 43-39 rebounding advantage. The Redhawks could have done a few things much better however, namely the 23 total turnovers. 

As for Montana State, they shot 55.4 percent from the field in a pretty routine blowout win over NWIC in their opener. The Bobcats were outfoxed 36-34 on the boards, but you can chalk much of that up to a lot of garbage time in the second. Montana State should be feeling pretty good coming into game two, but I think Seattle can maintain a cover pace if they play well.