Iona Gaels (13-6) vs. Siena Saints (13-7)
January 27, 2023 7:00 pm EDT
The Line: Siena Saints +5.5 / Iona Gaels -5.5 ; Over/Under: 142.5
(Get latest betting odds)
The Iona Gaels and the Siena Saints meet Friday in college basketball action from Times Union Center. Iona comes into this one at 13-6 overall. The Gaels beat Manhattan in their last appearance. As for Siena, they’re sitting at 13-7 so far after a loss to Fairfield on Sunday. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.
Iona Gaels
Iona was 11-5 through 16 games this year, losing to Hofstra, Santa Clara, New Mexico, SMU and Quinnipiac. The Gaels are 2-1 since then with wins over Fairfield and Manhattan surrounding a loss to Rider.
In the Manhattan game last Friday, the Gaels lost a 39-28 halftime lead and had to go to overtime. Iona hit 16 points from there and pulled off the win 84-76. Walter Clayton led the way on 21 points and six rebounds.
Siena Saints
Over on the Siena side, they started at 11-5 as well with losses to Harvard, Army, Ole Miss, Georgetown and Delaware. The Saints are 2-2 in their last four, beating Niagara and Mount St. Mary’s with losses to Canisius and Fairfield.
Matched up against Fairfield last weekend, the Saints were up 20-15 going into the second half. Siena was outscored 47-32 from there and lost 62-52. Andrew Platek was the top scorer on the team with 15 points.
ANDREW’S FREE PICK
I’m going to take a stab on Siena. You could go either way here, though; this should be one of the more competitive matchups of the Friday college basketball slate. Iona has ben a mixed bag during this 3-2 run; they’ve lost to a good Quinnipiac team and a not-so-good Rider team. That said, the Gaels have still been scoring pretty well; they’ve got 67 points or more in all but one game this year. As for Siena, they had a bad second half against Fairfield in their last outing but I think they’ll bounce back. This one looks like a close matchup on paper at least.
