Howard Bison vs Alcorn State Braves Prediction, 11/5/2026 College Basketball Picks, Best Bets & Odds

Game: Howard Bison vs Alcorn State Braves

Date: Thursday, November 5, 2026

Location: Davey L. Whitney Complex in Lorman, MS

TV: ESPN+

The Howard Bison (24-11 last year) are headed to Davey L. Whitney Complex on Thursday where they will go up against the Alcorn State Braves (9-23 last season).

The Howard Bison took the court against Yale and ended up losing by a score of 72-62 in their last contest. In regard to personal fouls, the Bison ended up with 22 while Yale finished the game with 17 personal fouls. They converted 7 of 23 tries from beyond the arc. Yale finished the game at 86.4% when shooting free throws by knocking down 19 of 22 attempts. Furthermore, Yale snagged 49 rebounds (20 offensive, 29 defensive), but wasn't able to record a rejection. Yale earned 13 assists and had 3 steals for this game. In terms of defending, Howard allowed the other team to go 35.9% from the field on 23 out of 64 shooting. They also doled out 10 assists for this contest in addition to forcing the opposition into 14 turnovers and getting 12 steals. When talking about pulling down rebounds, they earned a total of 37 with 18 of them being of the offensive variety. When they shot from the free throw line, the Bison knocked down 7 of their 16 attempts for a rate of 43.8%. Howard wrapped up the game having earned a 35.3% FG percentage (24 out of 68) and made 7 out of their 27 3-point attempts.

James Brown is one player who was a factor in this contest. He went 62.5% from the floor and recorded 3 assists. He saw the court for 30 minutes and also totaled 7 rebounds. He ended up scoring 11 points on 5 out of 8 shooting.

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Howard heads into this one after finishing with a mark of 24-11 last year. They lost possession via turnover 13.2 times per contest and as a squad committed 19.1 personal fouls per contest. As a squad, Howard pulled in 36.2 rebounds per contest and earned 563 assists throughout last year, which had them ranked 42nd in Division 1 in terms of passing. The Bison shot 35.5% on shots from downtown (244 of 687) and 73.0% from the free throw line. They averaged 77.8 points per contest (126th in the nation) while going 45.8% from the field.

When they were on the defensive end, the Bison forced 14.8 turnovers per game while drawing 19.7 fouls. They gave up 30.9% from 3-point land while they were 57th in Division 1 in PPG allowed (69.1). The Bison defensively gave up an opponent FG percentage of 42.8% (828 of 1,933) and they relinquished 31.8 boards per contest as a team. They were ranked 44th in D-1 in allowing assists to their opponents with 385 surrendered last year.

In their last game, the Alcorn State Braves went home defeated by a final of 99-58 against Ole Miss. In the matter of how they cleaned up the glass, Alcorn State allowed Ole Miss to grab 35 in total (11 on the offensive side). They went 33.3% from distance by connecting on 6 of 18 and ended up shooting 23 of 37 from the free throw line (62.2%). The Braves allowed Ole Miss to convert 35 of 61 attempts from the field which gave them a rate of 57.4% in this matchup. When the final whistle blew, the Braves ended up shooting 19 out of 52 from the floor which gave them a shooting percentage of 36.5%. With regard to shots from downtown, Alcorn State buried 10 of 25 attempts (40.0%). They were able to knock down 10 of the free throw tries for a percentage of 55.6%. Ole Miss committed 18 personal fouls for this contest which got the Braves to the charity stripe for a total of 18 shots. They also coughed up the ball 26 times, while getting 8 steals in the game. The Braves earned 17 defensive rebounds and 6 offensive boards totaling 23 in this matchup.

Calvin Sirmans III was important for the Braves in this contest. He tallied 20 points in his 24 minutes on the court and accumulated 6 assists for this game. He made 6 of 8 in the game for a field goal percentage of 75.0%, and had 2 rebounds.

Alcorn State had a mark of 9-23 last season. The Braves committed 17.7 personal fouls every game and they hit 70.8% from the charity stripe. They got an assist 11.1 times per game (347th in college) and they gave up possession 13.6 times per contest. Alcorn State totaled 2,141 points last season (66.9 per game) and they collected 30.2 rebounds per contest. When it comes to offensive execution, the Braves connected on 42.0% from the floor, which ranked 326th in college.

The Alcorn State defense surrendered 33.0% from downtown (214 of 649) and their opponents connected on 72.7% of their free throw shots. They allowed 10.2 dimes and 36.9 rebounds on a nightly basis, which ranked them 58th and 320th in college hoops. The Braves on the defensive end were ranked 333rd in the country in points given up per game with 80.2. They forced their opponents into 12.6 TO's every game and allowed teams to shoot 49.2% from the floor (359th in the nation).

Who will win tonight's NCAA game against the spread?

Tony Sink's Pick: Take Howard

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