The Arkansas State Red Wolves and the South Alabama Jaguars meet Saturday in college basketball action from Mitchell Center. Arkansas State is coming off a Thursday game versus Troy. In that one the Red Wolves lost by two points in a tough result. As for South Alabama, they played Little Rock in their Thursday matchup. The Jaguars would end up winning that one in a blowout. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.
Arkansas State has handled adversity well this year. They’re yet to lose consecutive games. After a 13-4 stretch to start the year, the Red Wolves hit a 2-2 stretch. The losses in that time were to App State and UL Monroe; the wins were over Coastal Carolina and Louisiana.
In Thursday’s game versus Troy, the Red Wolves were up 35-29 at the break. Arkansas State was unable to hang on after halftime though, falling 79-77. Norchad Omier was the leading scorer on the team with a double-double from 31 points and 10 boards.
Over on the South Alabama side, they went 10-5 over their first 15 outings this year. The Jaguars would then hit a nice five-game win streak in January. South Alabama would then lose their next trio to Troy, Georgia Southern and Georgia State, however.
Matched up against Little Rock on Thursday, the Jaguars didn’t have much trouble. South Alabama put up a 42-25 advantage in the first half and cruised to the 77-46 win. Jay Jay Chandler was the team’s top scorer with 14 points and five assists.
The Jags are 7-2 ATS in their last nine at home and the under is 5-2 in their last seven overall. The over is 10-2 in South Alabama’s last 12 at home.
Meanwhile, the Red Wolves are 9-3 ATS in their last 12 overall and 19-7 ATS in their last 26 Saturday games. The under is 5-1 in Arkansas State’s last six overall.
PICK: I’m going to try South Alabama here, but probably staying away. This one could go a lot of different ways. In any case, the Jaguars had a trio of rough games going this month before the Little Rock blowout; they’d been at 68 points or fewer in each of those outings. South Alabama does seem to score well this year when the matchup is favorable, and I think they’ll post a good total against Arkansas State. So long as the Jaguars stay in a good rhythm they should be fine on a cover, but it’s probably not a game to mess with.