UIC vs Belmont 1/4/23 College Basketball Picks, Predictions, Odds

The Belmont Bruins and the UIC Flames meet Wednesday in college basketball action from UIC Pavilion. Belmont is currently 9-6 overall. The Bruins lost to Southern Illinois in their last game. As for UIC, they’re 9-6 as well and coming off a loss to Bradley on Saturday. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.

Belmont hit a 6-4 run over their first 10 games, losing to Furman, Lipscomb, Tarleton State and Illinois State. The Bruins are 3-2 since then with wins over Chattanooga, Bradley and Samford alongside losses to Middle Tennessee and Southern Illinois. 

In the Southern Illinois game on Sunday, the Bruins had a 28-23 lead going into the second half. Belmont was drilled 40-17 from there and lost 63-45. Ben Sheppard led the team on 19 points with six rebounds.

Over on the UIC side, they were 6-4 in their first 10 games as well, falling versus Loyola IL, Fordham, Missouri State and Drake. The Flames are 3-2 in their last five with wins over Prairie View A&M, Northeastern and Illinois State. 

Matched up against Bradley on Saturday, the Flames were outpaced 39-13 in the first half. UIC didn’t get any closer from there on a 40-32 second-half run and lost 79-45. Jace Carter topped the team on 17 points with seven boards. 

PICK: I’m going to try Belmont in this one. We should have a pretty interesting matchup on our hands regardless, though. The Bruins had a horrible second half in their last game versus Southern Illinois, but they had been on a nice three-game winning streak before that. Belmont has scored just 108 combined points over their last two games, so they’ll need to get the offense moving quickly here. As for UIC, they’ve struggled on the scoreboard as well over their last there games with a max of 55 points in that span. I like Belmont to eke out the cover during a competitive game here.