Howard vs Hampton Prediction College Basketball Picks 12/28/24

The Howard Bison and the Hampton Pirates meet Saturday in college basketball action from Hampton Convocation Center. Here’s a Howard vs Hampton prediction. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best Howard vs Hampton pick. We will examine:

The Howard Bison recent form and player performance

The Hampton Pirates recent form and player performance

Recent betting trends and streaks involving the Howard Bison

Recent betting trends and streaks involving the Hampton Pirates

Recent betting trends in games played between Howard and Hampton

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

Howard Bison Betting Preview

This year the Bison won three of their first five games, then hit a losing streak versus Boston U, UMBC, Mount St. Mary’s and Cincinnati. After a pair of wins over Virginia-Lynchburg and UNC Wilmington, the Bison lost to Drexel.

In the game versus the Dragons on December 17, the Bison came out of the break with a 36-34 deficit. Howard hit a 32-31 run from there for a 68-65 loss. Leading scorer Marcus Dockery finished with 14 points and three rebounds.

Hampton Pirates Betting Preview

Over on the Hampton side, they went a shaky 3-5 over their first eight with wins over Mid-Atlantic Christian, UMBC and Duquesne. Since then it’s been wins over NC A&T, Apprentice, Regent and Loyola MD, though.

In the Loyola MD game, the Pirates got off to a 32-26 start and cruised to the 76-68 win with a 44-42 effort in the second half. Tops in scoring was Wayne Bristol on 21 points and 10 boards for a double-double.

Why the Hampton Pirates will win

• Hampton has won each of its last four games against non-AP-ranked opponents.
• Howard has lost five of its last six day games.
• Howard has lost the first half in five of its last six games against non-Conference opponents.

Why the Howard Bison will win

• Hampton has lost five of its last six games against the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference.
• The road team has won the first half in three of Hampton’s last four games.

Howard vs Hampton Prediction

I’ll lean toward Howard, but you could probably make an argument either way. The Bison are coming off a tough loss to a pretty decent Drexel team, shooting just 39.1 percent from the field with a 40-35 rebounding deficit. Howard had scored a whopping 212 combined points over their previous two games, though.

As for Hampton, they shot just 39.3 percent versus Loyola MD but did well from the line (29-of-35 for 82.9 percent) and had 36 rebounds. The Pirates have scored 73 or more points in four straight games, but a couple of those have come versus overmatched competition. I like this one to be a fairly high total as well, with Howard eking out a cover.

Andrew Jett's Pick: Howard Bison +4.5