Free Pick | NCAA | Saturday | Jan. 10

Nelly’s has won our last two basketball picks – check out a 2/3 for Saturday!

We are also on an 11-0 football run since December 27 – don’t miss Wild Card picks this weekend!

#747 Georgia Southern +3.5 over South Alabama 1:00 PM CT

Georgia Southern has won nine games in a row including starting 4-0 in Sun Belt play. That run includes two overtime wins but the Eagles have appealing traits for a team suited to win close games. Georgia Southern plays at a fast tempo but has an extremely low turnover rate on offense. The Eagles create turnovers on defense and defend the 3-point shot exceptionally well for Charlie Henry, whose team looks poised for a second straight season of significant improvement. South Alabama hasn’t played in a week, and the Jaguars are just 4-5 in the past nine Division I games. The two SBC wins were a double overtime win against UL-Monroe and a narrow five-point win against Louisiana and those are expected to be the worst two teams in the Sun Belt. South Alabama plays very slow in contrast to Georgia Southern, but the Jaguars are a 31 percent 3-point shooting team and a 68 percent free throw shooting team. Richie Riley’s defense was a top 100 unit last season but so far this season the defensive ranking is barely in the nation’s top 200. South Alabama won 76-47 on the road in the only meeting between these teams last season as this should be a circled game for the Eagles. That was simply a fluke result with an amazing shooting night for the Jaguars while two of the best players for Georgia Southern didn’t play in that game. Georgia Southern is 10-5 ATS this season as an improved team and while South Alabama is 11-5 for a similar pace to last season, the numbers suggest South Alabama has declined as much as any team in the Sun Belt this season and two league wins warrant little credit at this point. Losing center Peyton Law has hurt the potential of the Jaguars and this is an appealing price on the current SBC leaders that appear to have some staying power.