The Fairleigh Dickinson Knights and the Seton Hall Pirates meet Saturday in college basketball action from Walsh Gymnasium. Fairleigh Dickinson is 2-0 so far this year and coming off a blowout win over PSU Brandywine. As for Seton Hall, they were able to take out Saint Peter’s in their first matchup of the year. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.

Fairleigh Dickinson Knights

The Knights kicked off their season with a tricky road matchup versus Buffalo. Fairleigh Dickinson rose to the challenge and jumped out to a 54-44 halftime lead on the way to a 92-86 win. Leading the scoring was Jo’el Emanuel with 24 points and 11 rebounds. Joe Munden posted 18 points with four rebounds as well. 

In game two on Wednesday versus PSU Brandywine, the Knights had another successful outing. Fairleigh Dickinson scored 53 points in the first half and 54 more from there on the way to a blowout victory 107-63. Ansley Almonor was tops in scoring this time with 24 points and four rebounds. Emanuel added 13 points with four rebounds in 19 minutes. 

Seton Hall Pirates 

Over on the Pirates’ side, they went 17-16 overall a season ago, managing a 10-10 Big East run for a seventh-place finish in the standings. Seton Hall fell to DePaul in their first game of the conference tournament, then lost to Colorado in the first round of the NIT to finish the year on a down note. 

The good news for the Pirates is that they were able to kick off this season with a solid win over Saint Peter’s. Seton Hall was down 27-26 at the break before waking up to 44 second-half points in a 70-59 comeback win. Pirates guard Kadary Richmond was the top scorer on 18 points with seven assists and six boards. Both Dre Davis and Al-Amir Dawes chipped in 14 points each. 

ANDREW’S FREE PICK 

I’m going to stay with the Knights in this one. Fairleigh Dickinson is off to a pretty nice start over two games and passed their first test of the year in the road opener versus Buffalo. The Knights shot a solid 47.6 percent from the field in that one, but did get outmuscled on the boards 49-39. Still, the hot start and smart decisions (only six turnovers) led to a solid victory. 

As for Seton Hall, they started slow versus Saint Peter’s in their opener but eventually shot 50.0 percent from the field with 6-of-14 (42.9 percent) from 3-point range. The Pirates also weren’t great in the rebounding category (a 29-27 deficit), so it’ll be interesting to see how they perform here. Overall I like Fairleigh Dickinson to power out the cover, so long as they get into a nice first-half rhythm.