The Portland Pilots and the UC Davis Aggies meet Wednesday in college basketball action from the Pavilion. Portland is 8-6 so far this year. The Pilots lost to Montana State in their last game. As for the Aggies, they’re 6-3 on the season and fresh off a win over Pacific. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.
Portland started the year on a 5-1 clip with wins over Willamette, Alcorn State, AR-Pine Bluff, Morgan State and Portland State. It’s been a 3-5 run since then with losses to Montana State, VMI, Oregon, San Jose State and Montana State.
In the Montana State game on Sunday, the Pilots blew a 26-16 halftime lead with a 45-33 second-half deficit in a 61-59 loss. Leading scorer Chris Austin doubled up on 19 points and 12 boards, while Tyler Robertson added 16 points.
Over on the Aggies’ side, they went 3-3 over their first six games, taking out Utah State, Eastern Washington and Pacific along the way. UC Davis has won their last three versus UC Merced, Oregon State and Pacific.
Matched up against Pacific on Sunday, the Aggies got off to a 41-21 lead at the break and held on for the 77-67 win. Elijah Pepper posted 25 points, and Ezra Manjon added 20 points with seven rebounds during the victory.
UC Davis is 4-1 ATS in their last five at home and 3-7-1 ATS in their last 11 after an ATS win. The Aggies are 5-2 ATS in their last seven overall.
Meanwhile, the Pilots are 6-1 ATS in their last seven road games and 1-4 ATS in their last five overall. Portland is 0-5 ATS in their last five Wednesday games.
PICK: I’m going to try UC Davis here. The Aggies have had some bumps along the way this season, but over the last three games they’re playing better. UC Davis has hit 71 points in each of their last three, and the four-game win streak has helped erase the memory of a bad loss to Art U.
As for the Pilots, they’ve generally been scoring well over their last seven games but they’re also giving up plenty of points on the other side. This should be a pretty fun and competitive matchup, and I like UC Davis to eke out a cover in a high-scoring game.