Western Kentucky vs Evansville Prediction College Basketball Picks 12/7/24

The Western Kentucky Hilltoppers and the Evansville Aces meet Saturday in college basketball action from Ford Center. Here’s a Western Kentucky vs Evansville prediction. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best Western Kentucky vs Evansville pick. We will examine:

The Western Kentucky Hilltoppers’ recent form and player performance

The Evansville Aces’ recent form and player performance

Recent betting trends and streaks involving the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers

Recent betting trends and streaks involving the Evansville Aces

Recent betting trends in games played between Western Kentucky and Evansville

A summary that ties it all together and produces a favorable betting outcome for the Western Kentucky vs Evansville game

Western Kentucky Hilltoppers Betting Preview

Western Kentucky lost to Wichita State and Grand Canyon in their first pair before a winning streak over Campbellsville, Lipscomb, and Jackson State. After another loss to Kentucky, WKU managed another win over Marshall.

In the Marshall game last weekend, Western Kentucky trailed 40-36 at the break. The Hilltoppers hit a 54-42 run the rest of the way, however, and won 90-82. Julius Thedford came off the bench for a team-high 19 points and three rebounds in the victory.

Evansville Aces Betting Preview

Over on the Evansville side, they went just 1-4 in their first five games. The losses were to North Texas, Middle Tennessee, Radford, and Ohio State. After two wins over Green Bay and Campbell, the Aces took another loss to Murray State.

Matched up against the Racers on Tuesday, the Aces were down by eight points in the locker room. Evansville surged on a 36-30 run from there but it wasn’t enough in a 63-61 loss. Gabriel Pozzato was the team’s lead scorer on 15 points and six steals.

Why the Evansville Purple Aces will win

• Evansville has won eight of its last nine games against non-conference opponents at Ford Center.
• Western Kentucky has lost each of its last three away games when playing with a rest advantage.
• Western Kentucky has lost the first half in three of its last four games.

Why the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers will win

• Western Kentucky has won each of its last four games against the Missouri Valley Conference.

Western Kentucky vs Evansville Prediction

I’ll likely stay with the Hilltoppers. WKU started pretty slowly in their win over Marshall, but eventually shot 58.3 percent from the field. There’s plenty to complain about in that one though: the Hilltoppers hit just 27-of-40 (67.5 percent) from the line with a 40-31 rebounding deficit (15-3 offensive) and 14 turnovers. The good news is that Western Kentucky has 68 or more points in all but one game this year (66 in a five-point win over Lipscomb).

As for Evansville, they hit just 4-of-19 (21.1 percent) from 3-point range and got outmuscled on the boards 39-30 in their latest loss. The Aces have been below 67 points in five of eight games so far this year, so I’m not confident they’ll be able to dictate the pace here.

Andrew Jett's Pick: Western Kentucky Hilltoppers -3.5