The McNeese State Cowboys and the Lamar Cardinals meet Saturday in college basketball action from Montagne Center. McNeese State is 3-10 so far this year. The Cowboys lost to Houston in their last outing. As for Lamar, they’re sitting at 4-9 after a loss to Pacific in their most recent game. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.
McNeese State posted a 2-4 run over their first six games this year, beating only Champion Christian and Lamar. Since then it’s been a 1-6 stretch with losses to TN-Martin, Tennessee, Iowa State, Louisiana, Southern Miss and Houston.
In the Houston game last Wednesday, the Cowboys were drilled 42-19 in the first half. McNeese State scored just 25 points from there and lost 83-44. Roberts Berze posted 13 points, and Christian Shumate added 10 points.
Over on the Lamar side, they went 3-3 over their first six, beating St. Thomas, HTU and Lindenwood. The Cardinals are just 1-6 since then, falling to SMU, Texas State, Southern Miss (twice), LA-Monroe and Pacific.
Back on December 20 in the Pacific game, the Cardinals took a 37-21 deficit into the break. Lamar got better with 44 second-half points but still lost 74-65. Adam Hamilton led the team on 23 points with nine rebounds in the defeat.
PICK: I’ll probably stick with Lamar here. Also probably not going near it, however; there’s not a lot to get excited about in this one. That said, it should be a fairly competitive game between two comparable squads. Lamar has had their share of offensive struggles this year, and they’ve failed to get past 65 points in seven of their last eight games. McNeese is in something of the same boat; they’ve been below 70 points in five of the last six. I like this one to be fairly close most of the way, with Lamar powering out a cover/win.