New Orleans vs. McNeese State Betting Preview & Best Bet

The New Orleans Privateers will head west along the gulf coast for the second time this week, this time stopping short of the Texas border to take on in-state rival McNeese State in Lake Charles. They’ll not only be putting their undefeated conference record on the line, but they’ll also be looking for a bit of revenge having dropped a hard-fought overtime game to McNeese State earlier in the season in a non-conference, neutral site game in Katy, Texas.

Having arguably the best player in the conference should go a long way towards keeping New Orleans at the top of the standings and possibly give them a bump over Nicholls State as the favorite to win the league’s automatic bid in March. Senior guard Derek St. Hilaire is averaging 20.6 points per game and is shooting better than 40% from behind the arc this season. Coming off a 34-point explosion in a win over Houston Baptist, he’s been the driving force behind Privateers' success on offense all season. While he makes the headlines, the defense has been sneaky good so far as well. Ranked No. 1 in the Southland currently, they limited Nicholls State to just 66 points in their conference opener and have been forcing turnovers, keeping opponents off the offensive glass and limiting three-point shooting success as well as anyone in the league.

McNeese State’s advantage in this one will be as the host, and as mentioned, as the only team in the Southland with a win over New Orleans this season, even if it didn’t count towards their conference record. A big problem for McNeese State will be turnovers. Any home-court advantage they will possess could quickly be negated if they continually waste possessions. They currently rank 351st out of 358 teams nationally in turnover rate. Some of this is definitely due to playing an extremely tough non-conference schedule but the mistakes have continued into Southland play.

New Orleans vs McNeese State Best Bet

New Orleans Moneyline (-104, FanDuel)

I’ll forgo paying the extra juice on this one and take the slight road underdog straight up in the revenge spot here. They have the better offense, the better defense and the best player on the court in St. Hilaire. If their defense can play like they did versus Nicholls and keep the McNeese State three-point shooting to a minimum, they should have the advantage. Sprinkle in some sloppy play by McNeese State and the Privateers should head into Monday with a flawless 5-0 Southland record.

Risk: 1.04 units on FanDuel to win 1 unit.