The Yale Bulldogs and the Monmouth Hawks meet Thursday in college basketball action from Multipurpose Activity Center. Yale is 9-3 so far this year. The Bulldogs took out Fairfield in their last game. As for Monmouth, they’re 1-11 and coming off a loss to Charlotte. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.
Yale won six straight games to kick off the year on a high note. Since then the Bulldogs are just 3-3 however, taking losses to Colorado, Butler and Kentucky with wins otherwise versus Howard, Stony Brook and Fairfield.
In the Fairfield matchup, the Bulldogs were down 29-24 by halftime. Yale stormed back on a 53-35 second-half run to take the win 77-64. Leading scorer Bez Mbeng put up 20 points with five rebounds and one assist.
Over on the Monmouth side, they’ve got just one win over Manhattan this year. The losses have come versus Seton Hall, Virginia, Illinois, Norfolk State, Colgate, Cornell, Lehigh, Rider, Princeton, Syracuse and Charlotte otherwise.
Matched up against Charlotte back on Saturday, Monmouth was drilled 38-18 in the first half. The Hawks posted a 42-28 deficit in the second during an 80-46 blowout. Myles Ruth was the lead scorer with 16 points and three boards.
PICK: I’m going to stay with Yale. Probably not touching this one, though. The Bulldogs bounced back well after a couple of losses to good Butler and Kentucky teams, taking a nice victory over Fairfield last Monday. Yale has been scoring well in their wins this year; they’ve hit 73 or more in each of the last five victories. As for Monmouth, if there’s one positive for them it’s that the Hawks have been scoring better lately with 71 or more points in three of the last six outings. Yale should be able to handle them however, so I like the Bulldogs better on a cover.