Who’s Playing
Hampton Pirates @ Charleston Cougars
Current Records: Hampton 8-5, Charleston 10-3
How To Watch
What to Know
Hampton is 0-3 against Charleston since December of 2022 but things could change on Thursday. Both will face off in a Coastal Athletic battle at 7:00 p.m. ET at TD Arena. Keep an eye on the score for this one: the two teams posted some lofty point totals in their previous games.
Charleston is hoping to do what Howard couldn’t on Saturday: put an end to Hampton’s winning streak, which now stands at five games. Hampton took down Howard 83-67. The Pirates’ season wasn’t pretty last year but it’s starting to look like struggles are in the rearview.
Hampton’s success was spearheaded by the efforts of Wayne Bristol Jr., who posted 18 points plus five rebounds and two steals, and Noah Farrakhan, who earned 17 points along with seven assists and three steals. Farrakhan’s performance made up for a slower game against Loyola Maryland two weeks ago. The team also got some help courtesy of Kyrese Mullen, who almost dropped a double-double on 11 points and nine rebounds.
Hampton was working as a unit and finished the game with 19 assists. That’s a new trend for them: they were averaging 11.2 assists per game earlier this season, but in their last five matches they’ve averaged 18.
Meanwhile, it was close, but last Wednesday Charleston sidestepped Charlotte for an 84-81 victory. The win made it back-to-back victories for the Cougars.
Charleston can attribute much of their success to Ante Brzovic, who dropped a double-double on 32 points and 14 rebounds. What’s more, Brzovic also racked up five offensive rebounds, the most he’s had since back in January of 2024. Another player making a difference was AJ Smith, who went 6 for 9 en route to 17 points.
Hampton pushed their record up to 8-5 with the win, which was their fourth straight at home. As for Charleston, they have been performing incredibly well recently as they’ve won six of their last seven matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 10-3 record this season.
Some high-performance offense is likely on the agenda as both are some of the highest scoring teams in the league. Hampton hasn’t had any problem running up the score this season, having averaged 76.3 points per game. However, it’s not like Charleston struggles in that department as they’ve been averaging 78.8. With both teams so easily able to put up points, the only question left is who can run the score up higher.
Hampton is hoping to beat the odds on Thursday, as the experts think they’re headed for a loss. They might be worth a quick bet since they’re sitting on a five game streak of covering the spread when playing as the underdog.
Odds
Charleston is a big 9-point favorite against Hampton, according to the latest college basketball odds.
The oddsmakers were right in line with the betting community on this one, as the game opened as a 9-point spread, and stayed right there.
The over/under is 148.5 points.
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Series History
Charleston has won all of the games they’ve played against Hampton in the last 3 years.
- Jan 25, 2024 – Charleston 107 vs. Hampton 86
- Feb 11, 2023 – Charleston 83 vs. Hampton 70
- Dec 29, 2022 – Charleston 89 vs. Hampton 61
