Columbia vs Albany Prediction College Basketball Picks 12/4/24

The Columbia Lions and the Albany Great Danes meet Wednesday in college basketball action from SEFCU Arena. Here’s a Columbia vs Albany prediction. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best Columbia vs Albany pick. We will examine:

The Columbia Lions’ recent form and player performance

The Albany Great Danes’ recent form and player performance

Recent betting trends and streaks involving the Columbia Lions

Recent betting trends and streaks involving the Albany Great Danes

Recent betting trends in games played between Columbia and Albany

A summary that ties it all together and produces a favorable betting outcome for the Columbia vs Albany game

Columbia Lions Betting Preview

Columbia is looking very good so far, winning each of their first eight outings. The Lions have taken out Loyola MD, Villanova, Delaware State, Lehigh, Mercyhurst, LIU, Stony Brook, and New Hampshire in succession.

Last Monday versus New Hampshire, the Lions were up by 14 points at the break. Columbia hit a 38-26 run from there and won it 83-57. Kenny Noland was the leading scorer with 17 points, while Geronimo Rubio De La Rosa added 14 points and four assists.

Albany Great Danes Betting Preview

Over on the Albany side, they lost to Army in their opener then hit a winning streak over SUNY-Oneonta, Dartmouth, Siena, Puerto Rico-Mayaguez, and UMKC. Since then it’s been consecutive losses to American and Georgetown.

Matched up against the Hoyas on Saturday, the Danes were drilled 49-35 in the first half and 51-33 in the second for a 100-68 blowout loss. Kheni Briggs and Amar’e Marshall each posted a team-high 17 points in the losing effort.

Why the UAlbany Great Danes will win

• Columbia has lost 15 of its last 17 away games when playing with a rest advantage.
• UAlbany has won each of its last five night games against non-conference opponents at Broadview Center.
• Columbia has lost the first half in four of its last five road games against the America East Conference.

Why the Columbia Lions will win

• Columbia has won each of its last eight games.

Columbia vs Albany Prediction

I’ll likely just stay with Columbia here. The Lions had a pretty good game versus New Hampshire in their last outing, hitting 53 percent from the field with 40 rebounds. The 13 turnovers weren’t great, but Columbia did post 27 points off 20 Wildcats turnovers. The Lions have hit at least 76 points in every game so far.

As for Albany, they shot a rough 35.7 percent from the field against Georgetown alongside a 35-25 rebounding deficit and 18 turnovers. Albany has given up 181 combined points over the last two outings (both losses) so Columbia should have plenty of open looks here.