Saturday night college basketball and we will see the BYU Cougars travel to McKeon Pavilion to take on the St Mary's Galloping Gaels. The game has a start time of 11:00 pm (Eastern) and will be televised on ESPN 2. Current Vegas betting odds have St Mary's listed as 2 point favorites, while the total is set at 146.
Analysis: The BYU Cougars come in having won 5 of their last 6 games to push their season record to 15-5 overall and 5-2 in the WCC. BYU is off a nice 93-80 road win over Pacific and are now 5-0 in true road games this year. The Cougars are 6-0 ATS in their last 6 road games, but 4-10 ATS in their last 14 games after scoring more than 90 points in their previous game and 1-6 ATS in their last 7 games vs. a team with a winning S.U. record. BYU has the top offense in the nation, ranking 1st in scoring (87.0 ppg), 38th in shooting (47.5%), 33rd in 3 point shooting (39.0%) and 4th in FT shooting (77.4%). Defensively the Cougars have been horrible this year, ranking 325th in points allowed (73.6 ppg), 202nd in defensive FG% (43.0%) and 173rd in 3 point defense (33.5%).
The St Mary's Gaels come in having won 8 straight games, which includes winning their first 6 games in the WCC so far this year. Overall the Gaels are 14-3, including 10-2 at home. St Mary's is 14-5 ATS in their last 19 home games vs. a team with a road winning % of greater than .600 and 8-3-1 ATS in their last 12 home games. The Gaels have been a decent offensive team this year, ranking 111th in scoring (71.1 ppg), 50th in shooting (46.7%), 82nd in 3 point shooting (36.6%) and 86th in FT shooting (71.5%). Defensively the Gaels have been solid, as they come in ranked 91st in points allowed (62.5 ppg), 281st in defensive FG% (44.8%) and 104th in 3 point defense (34.8%).
Pick: Im going to look to the Over in this game. The Gaels can play good defense, but this BYU can and will score on just about everyone this year and I see them getting their fair share of points tonight. The Gaels offense is not as explosive as that of the Cougars, but they do average 74.5 ppg at home and should be able to score plenty vs this BYU defense that is one of the worst in the nation. This should be an up tempo game that is played in the 150s.
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