Lamar vs New Orleans Prediction 1/19/2026 Today’s College Basketball Picks

The Lamar Cardinals and the New Orleans Privateers meet Monday in college basketball action from Lakefront Arena. Here’s a Lamar vs New Orleans prediction. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best Lamar vs New Orleans pick. We will examine the recent form and player performances for both teams, as well as the recent betting trends and streaks pertaining to this matchup. As we conclude, we will tie it all together with a summary that produces a sensible pick for a favorable betting outcome in this game.

Lamar Cardinals Betting Preview

The Cardinals posted a pretty nice 5-2 opening run across their first seven outings this year, then hit the skids on a four-game losing streak versus Texas A&M-CC, San Diego State, UTRGV and Omaha. After that came a a 4-2 run over six games with wins over Northwestern State, East Texas A&M, Incarnate Word and Houston Christian. In their first 17 games of the year Lamar was sitting at 9-8 overall.

On Saturday versus Nicholls, the Cardinals kicked off their road matchup with a pretty good first-half performance and a 45-40 lead. Lamar duplicated that run in the second half, leading to a 90-80 win in the end. Rob Lee topped the team with 20 points, five boards and three assists. Andrew Holifield added 17 points while Cody Pennebaker had 11 points with three rebounds and two assists in the win.

New Orleans Privateers Betting Preview

Over on the New Orleans side, they kicked off the season with a rough 2-7 run in their first nine games. The only wins came versus TCU and Tulane. The Privateers would go 4-4 over the next eight games, taking losses to Houston, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Northwestern State and Nicholls during that time. In the first 17 games of the season that would give the Privateers a 6-11 record in the books.

Matched up against Stephen F. Austin on Saturday the Privateers managed to keep the pace in the first half, heading to the locker room with a 41-1 tie. New Orleans was outscored 43-38 the rest of the way however, finishing off an 84-79 loss in the end. Jakevion Buckley was tops on the team with 24 points and seven assists, while Coleton Benson added 17 points, one rebound and one assist.

Lamar Cardinals @ New Orleans Privateers Betting Trends: January 19, 2026

Why the New Orleans Privateers will win

• New Orleans has won each of its last four night games against non-AP-ranked opponents.
• Lamar has lost three of its last four road night games against the Southland Conference.
• New Orleans has won the first half in each of its last four night games against non-AP-ranked opponents.

Why the Lamar Cardinals will win

• New Orleans has lost 17 of its last 19 games at Lakefront Arena against non-AP-ranked opponents.
• Lamar has won each of its last three games against non-AP-ranked opponents.

Lamar vs New Orleans Prediction

I’ll stay with Lamar. The Cardinals took out a middling Nicholls team in a road matchup over the weekend, thanks largely to a hot shooting effort. Lamar posted a stellar 64.2 percent from the field and 62.5 percent (10-of-16) from outside alongside a 40-26 advantage in the paint. It wasn’t perfect though, as the Cardinals coughed up 15 turnovers along the way. That makes three straight wins for Lamar, but they’ve finished below 65 points in three of their last four.

As for New Orleans, they couldn’t keep pace with a pretty good Stephen F. Austin squad on Saturday despite shooting 50.8 percent from the field. The Privateers were also outmuscled on the boards 31-24 and had 12 turnovers. New Orleans is 2-2 in their last four games but they’ve been scoring well with 77 or more points in each of those outings.

Andrew Jett's Pick: Lamar Cardinals TBA