Central Arkansas (9-22) vs North Alabama (13-16)
March 1, 2024 at 07:30 PM EST
The Line: Betting Odds: Central Arkansas Bears +5.5 — Over/Under: 152.5
The North Alabama Lions and the Central Arkansas Bears meet Friday in college basketball action from Farris Center. North Alabama is 13-16 overall after a loss to Bellarmine. As for Central Arkansas, they lost to Eastern Kentucky last weekend to fall to 9-22 so far. Let’s get into our North Alabama vs. Central Arkansas prediction. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Pick Dawgz.
North Alabama Lions
The Lions’ season got off to a sketchy 7-12 start. North Alabama would then beat Kennesaw State, Queens, Stetson, Florida Gulf Coast, North Florida and Lipscomb over the next seven games, though. Since then it’s been three losses to Austin Peay, Eastern Kentucky and Bellarmine.
In the Saturday matchup versus Bellarmine, the Lions went into the break with a 38-37 edge. North Alabama was outscored 45-32 the rest of the way however, resulting in an 82-70 loss. Will Soucie was the team’s leading scorer with his 17 points, four rebounds and two assists.
Central Arkansas Bears
Over on the Bears’ side, they managed to go 7-13 over their first 20 outings. Central Arkansas has won just two games since January 18 however, taking out Kennesaw State and North Florida. It’s been losses to Austin Peay, Lipscomb, Bellarmine and Eastern Kentucky in the last four.
Last weekend versus Eastern Kentucky, the Bears were down by seven points in the locker room. Central Arkansas didn’t get any closer on a 48-42 stretch from there and lost 95-82 in the end. Carl Daughtery came off the bench to lead the team with 20 points and three boards in the defeat.
ANDREW’S FREE NORTH ALABAMA VS CENTRAL ARKANSAS PREDICTION
I’ll lean toward North Alabama. There’s not a lot to get excited about here, though. The Lions gave up a lot of offense to a struggling Bellarmine team in their last outing: 51.9 percent shooting and 42.1 percent (8-of-19) from 3-point range. North Alabama shot just 35 percent from the field themselves in a pretty tepid effort. The good news is that the Lions have scored 70 or more points in four straight games. The bad news is that was a 1-3 stretch.
Central Arkansas managed an 84-81 road victory the last time these teams met up back on January 6. The Bears had a solid offensive outing in that one (49.1 percent shooting), so North Alabama is really going to have to clamp down in the road rematch. The Lions should have enough offense to power out a cover here if all goes well, but I’m not touching this one.