Free Pick | NCAA | Thursday | Feb. 9

Free Pick Thursday: #803 Charlotte =3 over UTEP 8:00 PM CT

Charlotte has lost three in a row and five of the past six, dropping to 4-8 in Conference USA. This is a squad that plays at a very deliberate pace and can frustrate opposing offenses and among the four wins are wins of decent quality beating Middle Tennessee, Louisiana Tech, and winning at Western Kentucky. Six of eight conference losses have come by four or fewer points. The only lopsided loss came on Saturday hosting FAU, the clear top team in C-USA as Charlotte has a near-even and sixth best scoring differential in the conference despite being in 10th place. This is a revenge spot for the 49ers after a 2-point loss hosting UTEP in mid-January, a game Charlotte led by 15 at one point. Charlotte lost the turnover battle 14-9 in that game which doesn’t sync with the season numbers as UTEP is the most turnover prone team in the conference. In the conference numbers Charlotte is seven percent better from 3-point range and is the top effective field goal rate in the conference. UTEP is one of the worst 2-point defenses in the conference and is at a big size disadvantage in this pairing. No one in the main rotation for UTEP is above 6’8” and after winning 20 games in Joe Golding’s first season, this year’s collection of transfers has not meshed into a quality team, now losers of four in a row and sitting at just 2-3 S/U in the past five home games. Charlotte was 17-win team last year and has missed its top player in the past two games as this group still has top 100 potential. The best win of the season for the Miners was the narrow escape in Charlotte and it will be difficult for UTEP to pull that off twice in a few weeks.

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