The Colorado Buffaloes and the UMass Minutemen meet Thursday in college basketball action from HTC Center. Colorado is 2-1 on the year so far and coming off an upset win over Tennessee. As for UMass, they’re 1-1 following a loss to Towson. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.
Colorado kicked off the year with a relatively manageable matchup versus UC Riverside. The Buffaloes won that one 82-66. In game two versus Grambling State, Colorado had a tougher time and ended up with an 83-74 defeat.
In their third outing of the year versus Tennessee, the Buffaloes were down 34-32 by halftime. Colorado surged in the second half on a 46-32 run for a 78-66 comeback win. Tops in scoring was KJ Simpson with 23 points and 10 rebounds.
Over on the UMass side, their year kicked off with a matchup versus Central Connecticut. The Minutemen managed a 41-33 halftime edge and finished off the game with a 94-67 victory. TJ Weeks led the team on 16 points, and RJ Luis had 14 points.
In game two versus Towson, the Minutemen couldn’t find much success at all. UMass was down 42-28 by halftime and limped to a 67-55 loss. Both Isaac Kante and Matt Cross finished with 13 points and four rebounds to lead the team.
PICK: I’m probably going to take Colorado. So long as they don’t have a hangover following their big upset win over Tennessee, that is. The Buffaloes played great in that one, shooting 43.5 percent from the field and winning the rebound battle 47-38. Colorado kept Tennessee stifled by allowing just 25.4 percent shooting. If the Buffaloes play like that, UMass won’t keep pace for long.