Liberty vs New Mexico State Prediction Basketball Picks 2-29-24

The New Mexico State Aggies and the Liberty Flames meet Thursday in college basketball action from Liberty Arena. New Mexico State is fresh off a loss to Louisiana Tech, falling to 11-17 overall this year. As for Liberty, they’re sitting at 16-11 so far and coming off a loss to Florida International. Let’s get into our New Mexico State vs. Liberty prediction. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.

New Mexico State Aggies

The Aggies got off to a rough 5-9 start this year, but then beat Cal Baptist, UTEP, Western Kentucky, Middle Tennessee, Liberty and Jacksonville State over the next nine games. Since then it’s been losses to UTEP, Middle Tennessee, Western Kentucky, Sam Houston and Louisiana Tech, however.

In the Louisiana Tech matchup over the weekend, the Aggies came out of halftime with a 26-26 tie game. New Mexico State faded in the second half however, falling behind on a 41-32 run for a 67-58 loss. Both Jordan Rawls (bench) and Christian Cook led the team on 16 points apiece.

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Liberty Flames

Over on the Liberty side, they managed to go 11-7 through their first 18 games of the year. The Flames then beat Florida International, Sam Houston, UTEP, Middle Tennessee and Louisiana Tech over the next seven games. In the last pair it’s been losses to Sam Houston and Florida International.

In their road rematch versus Florida International, the Flames faced a three-point deficit at halftime. Liberty didn’t end up getting any closer than that on a 39-37 second half and lost 76-71 in the end. Kaden Metheny was tops in scoring on his 21 points with two rebounds and two assists.

ANDREW’S FREE NEW MEXICO STATE VS LIBERTY PREDICTION

I was going to lean toward Liberty here, but the line’s a little too thick. The Flames are coming off a pretty good offensive effort versus FIU in their latest defeat (48.2 percent shooting), however they were outmuscled on the boards 38-31 and had just nine team assists. The good news is that Liberty is still scoring pretty well; they’ve hit 71 or more points in three of the last four outings.

Back on February 1 when these teams last met, Liberty took a tough overtime road loss 79-73. The Flames didn’t shoot very well in that one (38.1 percent) and lost the rebounding battle 38-31 but were still scrappy enough to push it to OT. I like Liberty to notch a well-rounded effort in the home rematch but there should be enough room for an Aggies cover.