Temple vs Cincinnati 1/1/23 College Basketball Picks, Predictions, Odds

The Cincinnati Bearcats and the Temple Owls meet Sunday in college basketball action from Liacouras Center. Cincinnati is 10-4 so far. The Bearcats beat Tulane in their last game. As for Temple, they’re currently 7-7 after a win over East Carolina. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.

Cincinnati went 3-3 over their first six games this year, losing to Northern Kentucky, Arizona and Ohio State. It’s been a 7-1 run since then with wins over Louisville, NJIT, Bryant, Miami-OH, La Salle, Detroit and Tulane. 

On Thursday versus Tulane, the Bearcats jumped out to a 45-35 halftime lead. Cincinnati scored another 43 points from there and won it 88-77. Landers Nolley posted 23 points, and Viktor Lakhin doubled on 13 points and 13 boards. 

Over on the Temple side, they were 2-4 after six games this year with wins over Villanova and Rutgers. The Owls are 5-3 since then with victories versus Drexel, La Salle, VCU, Saint Joseph’s and East Carolina. 

Back on Wednesday versus East Carolina, Temple went into the break with a 23-22 deficit. The Owls got better on a 37-34 run in the second to take a 59-57 comeback win. Khalif Battle led the way on 18 points with five rebounds.

PICK: I’ll probably stick with the Bearcats. Cincinnati is coming off a nice performance versus Tulane, shooting 50.8 percent from the field with a 38-31 rebounding advantage and 20 team assists. The Bearcats have scored 72 or more points in eight straight games and shouldn’t have too many issues scoring in this one. As for Temple, they get credit for a nice comeback win over a pretty good East Carolina team in their last outing. The Owls have been below 60 points in three of their last four games however, and I don’t think they’ll keep up for long here.