Florida International Panthers (8-10) vs. UTEP Miners (10-7)
January 19, 2023 9:00 pm EDT
The Line: UTEP Miners -6.5 / Florida International Panthers +6.5 ; Over/Under: 132.5
(Get latest betting odds)
The Florida International Panthers and the UTEP Miners meet Thursday in college basketball action from Don Haskins Center. FIU comes into this one at 8-10 so far. The Panthers lost to North Texas in their last game. As for UTEP, they’re 10-8 following a win over Charlotte on Monday. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.
Florida International Panthers
FIU managed to start the year at 7-7 with wins over Houston Christian, Florida National, Stony Brook, Eastern Washington, Incarnate Word, Florida College and Charlotte. The Panthers are 1-3 since then with a lone win over UAB.
On Monday versus North Texas, the Panthers took a 26-25 edge into the second half. FIU fell behind on a 39-31 deficit from there and lost 64-57. Denver Jones was tops in scoring on 19 points with three rebounds.
UTEP Miners
Over on the UTEP side, they were 8-6 after 14 games, taking losses to Texas, New Mexico State, DePaul, Kent State, UAB and Rice. The Miners have gone 2-2 since then, beat UTSA and Charlotte with losses to LA Tech and Rice otherwise.
In the Charlotte matchup on Monday, UTEP was up 33-27 at the break. The Miners posted a 31-27 second-half deficit but still won it 60-58. Tae Hardy was tops in scoring on 19 points, and Calvin Solomon added 10 points.
ANDREW’S FREE PICK
I’ll probably stick with UTEP. Also probably not going near this one, though. The Miners have been all over the place scoring-wise lately, and they’ve failed to hit 70 points in four of their last five games. UTEP is just 2-5 in their last seven outings and could really use a good showing here. As for FIU, they’ve been fairly unreliable lately themselves with just 116 combined points in their last pair. I like UTEP to power out the cover here, but it’s a tough one to gauge.
