Arkansas State vs South Alabama Prediction College Basketball Picks 2/17/24

The Arkansas State Red Wolves and the South Alabama Jaguars meet Saturday in college basketball action from Mitchell Center. Arkansas State is fresh off a win over Troy that improved the Red Wolves to 12-14 overall. As for South Alabama, they’re .500 through 26 games after a win over Texas State on Thursday. Let’s get into our Arkansas State vs South Alabama prediction. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Pick Dawgz.

Arkansas State Red Wolves

The Red Wolves started the year at 7-9, then hit a 1-4 run in January that featured losses to Louisiana, Southern Miss and LA-Monroe. Arkansas State is 4-1 since then though, taking out Southern Miss, LA-Monroe, Ohio and Troy with a lone loss to James Madison otherwise.

In the Troy matchup on Thursday, the Red Wolves started out a bit slowly with a 41-34 halftime deficit. Arkansas State outscored the Trojans 48-30 from there though, leading to an 82-71 comeback win. Taryn Todd was tops in scoring with 19 points and six rebounds.

South Alabama Jaguars

Over on the Jaguars’ side, they were 10-8 in mid-January then hit a rough patch. South Alabama would lose to Louisiana, LA-Monroe, Troy and Texas State over their next five games. The Jaguars have since recovered with wins over Georgia Southern, Northern Illinois and Texas State, though.

On Thursday versus Texas State in their latest outing, the Jaguars jumped out to a 35-18 halftime edge. South Alabama kept the pace the rest of the way on a 37-37 run and took the victory 72-55. Isiah Gaiter led the way on 18 points with four rebounds in the win.

ANDREW’S FREE ARKANSAS STATE VS SOUTH ALABAMA PREDICTION

I’ll lean toward South Alabama but this one seems like a coin flip. The Jaguars didn’t have too many issues with Texas State in their last outing thanks to 52 percent shooting and 18 points off 16 Bobcats turnovers. It’s been a good scoring run over the last trio (all wins), with 72 or more points in each outing.

As for Arkansas State, they’re on a nice 4-1 run right now and have scored 73 or more points in eight straight outings. The Red Wolves are also giving up quite a bit on defense these days however, so I think there may be enough room for a Jaguars home cover/win in this one. You could argue it either way, though.

Andrew Jett's Pick: South Alabama Jaguars +1.5