North Alabama vs Jacksonville Prediction 1/16/25 College Basketball Picks

The North Alabama Lions and the Jacksonville Dolphins meet Thursday in college basketball action from Swisher Gym. Here’s a North Alabama vs Jacksonville prediction. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best North Alabama vs Jacksonville pick. We will examine:

The North Alabama Lions’ recent form and player performance

The Jacksonville Dolphins’ recent form and player performance

Recent betting trends and streaks involving the North Alabama Lions

Recent betting trends and streaks involving the Jacksonville Dolphins

Recent betting trends in games played between North Alabama and Jacksonville

A summary that ties it all together and produces a favorable betting outcome for the North Alabama vs Jacksonville game

North Alabama Lions Betting Preview

The Lions were barely able to keep their heads above water over their first nine games this year, however, things have gone much better since then. North Alabama posted a 5-4 stretch in that opening nine-game period, beating Air Force, Point University, Tennessee-Martin, Louisiana Monroe, and Dalton State alongside losses to Samford, Auburn, Northwestern State, and Wofford. Since then it’s been a 6-2 run for North Alabama. The only losses in that time came versus Loyola Marymount and Florida Gulf Coast. Otherwise, it was wins over Tennessee Tech, East Carolina, Charleston Southern, Bellarmine, Eastern Kentucky, and Stetson in that time for an 11-6 overall record through the first 17 games of the season for North Alabama.

Matched up against Stetson over the weekend, the Lions didn’t have too many issues at all. North Alabama was up 47-26 by halftime, then cruised on a 45-38 run from there in a 92-64 victory in the end. Leading the way was Taye Fields, who notched a nice double-double on 23 points, 17 rebounds, four assists, three steals, and a block during a stat-sheet-filling effort. Will Soucie added 17 points with three assists in the win, and Canin Jefferson had eight points.

Jacksonville Dolphins Betting Preview

Over on the Jacksonville side, they’ve had a pretty rough campaign so far but things have been going pretty well since the calendar turned to January. The Dolphins put up a 3-2 stretch in their first five with wins over Trinity Baptist, South Carolina State, and Virginia Tech alongside losses to Florida and Furman. A 3-5 run came next with wins over Siena, Florida Tech, and East Tennessee State. The losses were versus Mercer, Georgia, FAU, UCF and Lipscomb. Since then it’s been a nice three-game win streak, though. Those victories have come courtesy of Austin Peay, Bellarmine, and Eastern Kentucky in succession, giving the Dolphins a 9-7 overall record through their first 16 games of the season so far.

In the game versus the Colonels on Saturday, the Dolphins came into the second half trailing by one point 39-38. Jacksonville hit a 44-36 run the rest of the way and took the eventual victory 82-75. Robert McCray led the team with 19 points, three steals, two assists, and two rebounds, Kendall Munson came off the bench to provide 15 points with seven boards, and Zimi Nwokeji added 13 points with six rebounds, two assists and five blocks in 28 minutes.

Why the Jacksonville Dolphins will win

• The home team has won five of North Alabama’s last six games.

Why the North Alabama Lions will win

• North Alabama has won four of its last five night games against non-AP-ranked opponents.
• Jacksonville has lost each of its last three home night games against the ASUN Conference.
• Jacksonville has lost the first half in 10 of its last 11 home night games against the ASUN Conference.

North Alabama vs Jacksonville Prediction

I’m likely going to try Jacksonville here. The Dolphins have been looking better over their last three games, and they’re coming off a (mostly) solid effort versus Eastern Kentucky. Jacksonville put up 47.5 percent shooting and a 41-34 rebounding edge in that one but did cough up 17 turnovers for 22 Colonels points. During this three-game win streak, Jacksonville has scored 68 or more points in each outing and 74 or more in consecutive games.

As for North Alabama, they’ve scored quite well themselves lately with 69 or more points in eight straight (a 6-2 run). Jacksonville is going to have to have another good offensive effort here (and really cut down on turnovers), but I think they can pull it off. Should be a good one.

Andrew Jett's Pick: Jacksonville Dolphins +2