Charleston (14-4) vs Northeastern (10-8)
Game Info: Saturday, January 18, 2025 at 5:00 pm (TD Arena)
The Line: Betting Odds: Charleston -6.5 — Over/Under: 147.5
The Northeastern Huskies and the Charleston Cougars meet Saturday in college basketball action from TD Arena. Here’s a Northeastern vs Charleston prediction. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best Northeastern vs Charleston pick. We will examine:
The Northeastern Huskies’ recent form and player performance
The Charleston Cougars’ recent form and player performance
Recent betting trends and streaks involving the Northeastern Huskies
Recent betting trends and streaks involving the Charleston Cougars
Recent betting trends in games played between Northeastern and Charleston
A summary that ties it all together and produces a favorable betting outcome for the Northeastern vs Charleston game
Northeastern Huskies Betting Preview
Northeastern kicked off the 2024-25 season on a nice run, but since mid-December things haven’t been going as smoothly. The Huskies opened on an 8-3 record with losses to only Princeton, Cal State Bakersfield, and Vermont. The wins otherwise during that time were versus Boston U, Harvard, Central Connecticut, Florida International, Florida Gulf Coast, La Salle, Colgate, and Old Dominion. Since then it’s been a tough 2-5 stretch for Northeastern. The two wins have come versus Delaware and Stony Brook. Otherwise, it’s been losses to UMass, Northwestern, Hofstra, Towson, and UNC Wilmington during that time for a 10-8 overall record through the first 18 games of the season so far.
In the UNC Wilmington game on Thursday, the Huskies came out of the gate with a 39-36 deficit. Northeastern didn’t end up getting any closer than that on a 41-36 second-half run and eventually lost 80-72 in the end. Leading the team in scoring during the losing effort was LA Pratt with 22 points, three rebounds, and five assists. Rashad King added 20 points with nine rebounds, four assists, and three steals. JB Frankel chipped in with 13 points, three rebounds and two assists in 31 minutes of action as well.
Charleston Cougars Betting Preview
Over on the Charleston side, they’ve been a highly consistent team so far this year, with only one brief stretch of rough play. The Cougars have yet to record consecutive losses as well. Charleston opened on a 4-2 stretch with losses to Liberty and Rhode Island mixed among wins over Southern Illinois, South Florida, FAU, and the Citadel. After wins over Northern Kentucky, Tusculum, St Joseph’s, and Wofford, the Huskies fell again to Oregon State. Since then it’s been a nice 6-1 stretch with a lone loss to Monmouth among wins over Loyola Chicago, Charlotte, Hampton, Towson, Hofstra, and Campbell for a 14-4 overall run through 18 games.
In the Campbell matchup on Thursday, the Cougars came out of halftime looking up at a slim 33-30 edge on the scoreboard. Charleston kept it up in the second half with a 34-31 run and powered out the win at the end 67-61. Both Deywilk Tavarez (five rebounds; two steals; two assists) and Derrin Boyd (three rebounds; two assists) posted a team-high 15 points each. Lazar Djokovic came off the bench to notch a double-double on 11 points with 15 boards, two blocks, and a steal in 30 minutes of action on the court as well.
Why the College of Charleston Cougars will win
- College of Charleston has won 16 of its last 17 games against Conference opponents.
- Northeastern has lost each of its last four road day games against Conference opponents.
- Northeastern has lost the first half in each of its last four road day games against Conference opponents.
Why the Northeastern Huskies will win
- The road team has won three of the last four games between Northeastern and College of Charleston.
Northeastern vs Charleston Prediction
I’m going to stay with Charleston. The Cougars knocked off a middling Campbell team in their last outing without too much difficulty, even though the scoring was a bit muted. Charleston hit just 38.7 percent from the field in that one and had 15 turnovers for 22 Camels points, but stayed strong on the boards 43-30 (13-6 offensive) and hit 11 of their 12 free throws. It was a gritty win that marked the second time in the last three games the Cougars have been below 68 points. Seeing as how Northeastern has given up 80 points in two of the last three games (both losses), Charleston should have some solid scoring opportunities in this one. I like the Cougars to take advantage and keep it rolling in the win column.