UNC Wilmington vs Vermont 11/26/22 College Basketball Picks, Predictions, Odds

The Vermont Catamounts and the UNC-Wilmington Seahawks meet in college basketball action from the Baha Mar Convention Center on Saturday.

The Vermont Catamounts will be looking to build on their 78-74 win over Ball State last time out. Dylan Penn leads Vermont in scoring with 12.5 PPG while Aaron Deloney has 10.8 PPG as the only other double-digit scorer for Vermont up to this point in the year. Finn Sullivan has 8.8 PPG with 5.3 RPG and 2.7 APG and Robin Duncan has a team-high of 6 RPG to lead Vermont in rebounding this season. As a team, Vermont is averaging 63.9 points per game on 43.4% shooting from the field, 31.1% from three point range and 65.7% from the foul line this season.  

The UNC-Wilmington Seahawks will try to build on a 68-54 win over Missouri State last time out. Trazarien White leads the Seahawks in scoring with 12.6 PPG while Shykeim Phillips has 11.3 PPG as the only other double-digit scorer for UNC-Wilmington up to this season. Amari Kelly also has a team-high 5.2 RPG to lead the Seahawks on the glass as the team’s top rebounder. Nick Farrar also has 8 PPG with 3.7 RPG and Jamarii Thomas also has a team-high 2.2 APG to lead the Seahawks in the assist department this season. As a team, UNC-Wilmington is averaging 70.8 points per game on 43.8% shooting from the field, 26.7% from three point range and 66.4% from the foul line this season.

I get the case to be made for either side in this game, but I’m leaning towards UNC-Wilmington. This isn’t the same Vermont team from seasons past, as they’ve struggled big time out of the gate and I don’t see that changing against a UNCW defense that’s top-100 in scoring defense this season. Vermont can’t score and can’t stop teams from scoring either side so give me the Seahawks in this one.