Utah Valley Wolverines vs New Mexico State Aggies Prediction, 2/20/2021 College Basketball Pick, Tips and Odds

Game: Utah Valley Wolverines vs New Mexico State Aggies

Date: Saturday, February 20, 2021

Location: Eastwood High School Gymnasium in El Paso, TX

TV: ESPN+

Odds/Point Spread: Utah Valley (+8)

Eastwood High School Gymnasium is the venue where and the New Mexico State Aggies (5-5) will play the Utah Valley Wolverines (7-8) on Saturday. New Mexico State opens this game as 8-point favorites. The over/under is set at 141.5.

Utah Valley comes into this contest with a win-loss record of 7-8 for the year. They average 77.8 points per contest (59th in college basketball) while connecting on 49.8% from the field. The Wolverines are shooting 34.9% on shots beyond the perimeter (82 of 235) and 62.7% from the free throw line. As a team, Utah Valley is pulling down 38.1 boards per contest and has 283 assists so far this year, which is 94th in the country in terms of passing the ball. They are giving up possession 15.3 times per contest and as a group they commit 20.1 personal fouls per game. On defense, the Wolverines are forcing 12.1 turnovers per game while drawing 21.7 personal fouls. They are ranked 130th in college hoops in giving up assists to their opponents with 217 conceded this season. The Wolverines defense is giving up a FG percentage of 43.6% (393 of 902) and they concede 31.3 rebounds per contest as a basketball team. They are giving up 36.0% on three-point shots while they are 308th in college hoops in PPG allowed (77.1).

The Utah Valley Wolverines stepped onto the hardwood against the Dixie State Trailblazers and took a loss by a score of 93-89 in their last game. Utah Valley walked away from the contest having earned a 48.5% field goal percentage (32 out of 66) and buried 3 out of their 12 three-point attempts. From the charity stripe, the Wolverines made 22 of 33 tries for a rate of 66.7%. With regard to hauling in boards, they compiled 39 with 17 of them being offensive. They also dished out 20 dimes in this matchup as well as earning 8 steals and 6 blocked shots. Regarding the defense, Utah Valley allowed the other team to shoot 48.5% from the field on 32 out of 66 shooting. Dixie State doled out 21 dimes and had 7 steals for this game. On top of that, the Trailblazers snagged 28 boards (5 offensive, 23 defensive) and had 6 rejections. Dixie State went 89.7% from the charity stripe by knocking down 26 of their 29 attempts. They also buried 7 of their 18 tries from distance.

Trey Woodbury is a guy who was a major factor for this contest. He was able to score 27 points on 9 out of 20 shooting. He played for 34 mins and also totaled 4 rebounds. Woodbury ended up shooting 45.0% from the field and also recorded 3 dimes. One more player that was a determining factor in the matchup for the Wolverines was Fardaws Aimaq. He had 25 rebounds and accounted for 3 assists. He finished the contest at 53.8% from the field for this game by going 7-of-13 (18 points). When the final whistle was blown, Aimaq played 33 minutes.

New Mexico State has a win-loss record of 5-5 on the season. New Mexico State has earned 732 points this season (73.2 per game) and they pull in 36.6 boards per game. The Aggies are responsible for committing 17.9 fouls per contest and they go 73.1% from the free throw line. As an offense, the Aggies are shooting 43.3% from the field, which has them ranked 229th in Division 1. They are dishing out assists 12.8 times per contest (214th in D-1) and they are losing possession via turnover 12.1 times per game. The Aggies are ranked 86th in college hoops in PPG given up with 66.9. They are forcing their opponents into 12.0 turnovers per game and allow teams to shoot 43.5% from the floor (192nd in college hoops). The New Mexico State defense allows 35.4% on three-point shots (74 of 209) and opponents are making 76.0% of their foul shots. They allow 11.6 assists and 29.2 total boards per game, which ranks them 79th and 8th in the nation.

The last time they took the court, the New Mexico State Aggies took home the win by a final score of 65-58 when they faced the Seattle Redhawks. The Aggies pulled down 24 defensive boards and 18 offensive boards for a total of 42 in the game. They also blocked 2 shots while getting 2 steals in the game. The Redhawks committed 18 fouls in the matchup which took the Aggies to the free throw line for a total of 17 tries. They were able to convert 11 of those for a clip of 64.7%. In the matter of shots from downtown, New Mexico State made 12 of 32 attempts (37.5%). When the final whistle blew, the Aggies walked away from this one shooting 21 out of 57 from the field which had them shooting 36.8%. The Aggies permitted the Redhawks to convert 17 of 50 attempts from the floor which gave them a percentage of 34.0% in this game. They finished 27.6% from distance by connecting on 8 of 29 and finished the game at 16 of 21 at the charity stripe (76.2%). Regarding cleaning up the glass, New Mexico State permitted Seattle to collect 24 in total (6 on the offensive side).

Jabari Rice was important for the Aggies for this game. He buried 6 out of 12 for this contest for a field goal percentage of 50.0%, which had him sitting at 19 points. Rice snagged 6 boards in his 36 minutes and had 2 dimes in the matchup. Another guy who was a determining factor for New Mexico State was Johnny McCants. He ended up finishing with 16 points in his 31 minutes on the court via 3 of 5 shooting for the game. McCants ended up shooting 60.0% from the floor while also collecting 2 dimes and 5 total rebounds.

So what is Tonights Parlay prediction?

Parlay's Pundit's Pick: Take Utah Valley (+8) and under 141.5 points

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