South Alabama vs Southeastern Louisiana 3/16/22 College Basketball Picks, Predictions, Odds

The Southeastern Louisiana Lions and the South Alabama Jaguars meet in the Basketball Classic first round action from the Mitchell Center on Wednesday night.

The Southeastern Louisiana Lions come into the Basketball Classic on behalf of the Southland Conference, finishing the year with a 19-14 overall record including a 10-4 mark in conference play. The Lions took out New Orleans in the conference semi-finals before losing to Texas A&M-CC in the conference championship game. Gus Okafor leads the Lions in scoring with 14.6 PPG along with 6.4 RPG while Keon Clergeot has 13 PPG with a team-high 3.2 APG to lead the Lions in assists. Jalyn Hinton has 13.9 PPG with a team-high 7.9 RPG to lead the Lions in rebounding and Joe Kasperzyk has 10.6 PPG to round out the group of double-digit scorers for the Lions up to this point in the season. As a team, Southeast Louisiana is averaging 79.7 PPG on 46.3% shooting from the field, 35% from three and 75.2% from the foul line while allowing 78.5 PPG on 46.8% shooting from the field and 34% from three this season.

The South Alabama Jaguars come into the Basketball Classic, repping the Sun Belt after a 19-11 overall record including a 9-7 mark in Sun Belt conference play. South Alabama’s conference tournament as the #5 seed was short-lived as the Jaguars were upended by Little Rock in the first round. Charles Manning Jr. leads the Jaguars in scoring and assists with 16.1 PPG and 3.5 APG while Jay Jay Chandler has 15.3 PPG. Javon Franklin has 11.3 PPG with a team-high 7.5 RPG to lead the Jaguars on the glass while also capping off the trio of double-digit scorers for South Alabama so far this year. As a team, South Alabama is averaging 71.4 PPG on 45.7 % shooting from the field, 33.7% from three and 70% from the foul line while allowing 62.8 PPG on 40% shooting from the field and 30.2% from three this season.

Southeastern Louisiana is 4-0 ATS in their last 4 games as an underdog and 3-0-1 ATS in their last 4 games following an ATS loss while the over is 4-0 in their last 4 games as an underdog. South Alabama is 9-4 ATS in their last 13 home games and 7-3 ATS in their last 10 home games against a team with a losing road record while the under is 6-0 in their last 6 games following a loss.

This will be a genuine clash of styles as you have a defense first South Alabama team against an offensive beast in Southeastern Louisiana. With that said, I do think the Jaguars will be able to hold Southeastern Louisiana in check, but the Lions are just too solid offensively to pass getting double-digits with. I think that South Alabama likely wins, but the Lions do enough to cover with the points.