McNeese State vs New Orleans Prediction 2/15/25 College Basketball Picks

The McNeese State Cowboys and the New Orleans Privateers meet Saturday in college basketball action from Lakefront Arena. Here’s a McNeese vs New Orleans prediction. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best McNeese vs New Orleans pick. We will examine: 

The McNeese State Cowboys’ recent form and player performance

The New Orleans Privateers’ recent form and player performance 

Recent betting trends and streaks involving the McNeese State Cowboys

Recent betting trends and streaks involving the New Orleans Privateers

Recent betting trends in games played between McNeese and New Orleans

A summary that ties it all together and produces a favorable betting outcome for the McNeese vs New Orleans game

McNeese State Cowboys Betting Preview

The Cowboys were sitting on a middling .500 record back in mid-December but since then they’ve been playing great. McNeese lost to South Dakota State, Alabama, Liberty, Santa Clara, and Mississippi State during that opening 10-game stretch. The Cowboys have lost just once (versus Nicholls on February 1) since then. Otherwise, it’s been wins over Louisiana, New Orleans, SE Louisiana, East Texas A&M, Northwestern State, Nicholls, Houston Christian, Lamar, Stephen F Austin, UTRGV, Texas A&M-CC, Incarnate Word, Northwestern State, and East Texas A&M in succession. That gives the team a nice 19-6 overall run through 25 games. 

In the East Texas A&M matchup on Monday, the Cowboys went into the break with a 27-22 deficit. McNeese scored 45 more points in the second half and cruised to the win 67-51 in the end. Leading the team in scoring was Christian Shumate with a double-double on 19 points, 14 boards, and three assists. DJ Richards added 12 points with two rebounds, and Joe Charles had 11 points with seven boards and two steals in 31 minutes of work on the court. 

New Orleans Privateers Betting Preview

Over on the Privateers’ side, it’s been quite a struggle this year with only one instance of consecutive wins so far. New Orleans went just 2-14 to start with losses to Kansas State, Troy, Stonehill, Robert Morris, Baylor, Nicholls, Iowa, Texas, LSU, McNeese, Vanderbilt, UTRGV, Texas A&M-CC, and SE Louisiana during that time. After wins over Lamar and East Texas A&M came another losing streak. Those defeats came versus Northwestern State, Houston Christian, Incarnate Word, SE Louisiana, Stephen F. Austin, Houston Christian, and Incarnate Word. That gives the Privateers a 4-21 overall record through the first 25 games this year. 

Matched up against Incarnate Word in their Monday outing, the Privateers went into the locker room with a three-point deficit. New Orleans was outpaced 36-29 the rest of the way and took the loss 75-65 in the end. Leading team scorer MJ Thomas doubled up on 32 points with 11 boards and a pair of blocks. The only other player on the squad in double-digits was Kohen Rowbatham with 14 points, three rebounds, one assist, and one steal. 

Why the New Orleans Privateers will win

• The home team has won three of New Orleans’ last four games.
• McNeese State has lost three of its last four day games at Lakefront Arena against non-AP-ranked opponents.
• The home team has won the first half in each of New Orleans’ last four games.

Why the McNeese State Cowboys will win

• New Orleans has lost each of its last 10 games at Lakefront Arena against non-AP-ranked opponents.
• McNeese State has won 24 of its last 25 games against Conference opponents.
• New Orleans has lost the first half in six of its last seven day games at Lakefront Arena against non-AP-ranked opponents.

McNeese vs New Orleans Prediction 

I’ll stick with McNeese, but the line’s too thick to mess with. The Cowboys started out slowly against a struggling East Texas A&M team in their last outing, but everything worked out well in the end. McNeese ended up with 44.8 percent shooting, a 39-29 rebounding edge, and 17 points off 14 Lions turnovers. That makes three straight wins for the Cowboys, but they haven’t been scoring all that dominantly. McNeese has fewer than 68 points in each of those three outings. 

The Cowboys took a dominant 86-61 home win the last time these teams met up way back on December 28. McNeese ended up getting out-rebounded 39-35 in that one but shot quite well (48.5 percent) from the field. The key stat, however, was the Privateers’ 16 turnovers for 13 Cowboys points. McNeese can’t rely so heavily on mistakes in the road rematch on Saturday, but should still be in firm control in this one.