The Sacred Heart Pioneers and the UMass Lowell River Hawks meet Sunday in college basketball action from Tsongas Center. Sacred Heart is sitting at 5-7 so far and coming off a win over Columbia. As for the River Hawks, they’re 7-4 this year. UMass Lowell beat Mass College of Liberal Arts in their last outing. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.
Sacred Heart went 2-2 over their first four games this year with victories versus La Salle and Fisher. The Pioneers have gone just 2-5 since then, falling to Fairfield, NJIT, Stony Brook, Brown and Rhode Island alongside wins over Lafayette and Columbia.
In the Columbia game back on Monday, the Pioneers were down 33-32 heading into the break. Sacred Heart pulled off a 47-36 run from there in a 79-69 win. Tyler Thomas led the way on his 19 points, five rebounds and three assists.
Over on the UMass Lowell side, they went 5-3 over their first eight games this year, taking out Rivier NH, Dayton, Central CT State, George Washington and Fisher. The River Hawks are 2-1 since then with wins over Merrimack and Mass College of Liberal Arts.
In last Saturday’s matchup, UMass Lowell didn’t have much trouble. The River Hawks scored 51 in the first half and 58 more from there in a 109-45 blowout. Both Darion Jordan-Thomas and Kalil Thomas scored 17 points apiece with a combined 14 rebounds.
The River Hawks are 1-4 ATS in the last five after a straight-up win and the under is 9-1 in their last 10 at home. The under is 7-0 in UMass Lowell’s last seven Sunday games.
Meanwhile, the Pioneers are 1-7 ATS in their last eight after an ATS win and the over is 10-3 in their last 13 road games. Sacred Heart is 3-10 ATS in their last 13 versus a team with a winning straight-up record.
PICK: I’m likely going to stick with UMass Lowell. The River Hawks have had some dud games this year so far, but against comparable teams they seem to score fairly well. UMass Lowell has scored 81 or more points in three of their last six, however they’re also giving up pretty hefty points totals to teams with decent offense.
As for the Pioneers, they’re coming off a good game and I like them to be competitive here as well. We should have a pretty fun matchup on our hands here, and I like UMass Lowell to eke out the cover.