BYU Cougars vs Utah Utes Prediction, 1/18/2025 College Basketball Picks, Best Bets & Odds

Game: BYU Cougars vs Utah Utes

Date: Saturday, January 18, 2025

Location: Jon M. Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City, UT

TV: ESPN+

The BYU Cougars (11-5) are en route to Jon M. Huntsman Center on Saturday where they will try to defeat the Utah Utes (10-6).

The BYU Cougars stepped onto the hardwood against Oklahoma State and earned the victory with a final of 85-69 in their last contest. Regarding fouls, the Cougars ended up with 15 while Oklahoma State recorded 23 fouls. They also converted 8 of their 21 shots from downtown. Oklahoma State ended up going 65.2% when shooting free throws by burying 15 of their 23 attempts. In addition, Oklahoma State collected 23 boards (7 offensive, 16 defensive), but wrapped up the game with no rejections. Oklahoma State distributed 16 assists and had 8 steals in this contest. When talking about defense, BYU allowed the other team to shoot 41.1% from the floor on 23 of 56 shooting. They also distributed 18 assists for the matchup while forcing the opposition into 13 turnovers and earning 8 steals. In terms of rebounding, they earned a total of 34 with 7 of them being on the offensive end. When they shot from the charity stripe, the Cougars converted 19 of their 27 attempts for a percentage of 70.4%. BYU walked away from the game having earned a 51.9% field goal percentage (27 of 52) and buried 12 out of their 28 3-pointers.

Trevin Knell is someone who played a role for this contest. He finished with 18 points on 6 of 12 shooting. He played for 27 minutes played and snagged 5 rebounds. He finished the game shooting 50.0% from the field and dished out 1 assist.

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BYU will enter this game with a win-loss record of 11-5 this year. They lose possession via turnover 12.0 times per game and as a team are committing 14.9 fouls per contest. As a team, BYU is pulling down 39.7 boards per game and has accumulated 276 dimes this year, which has them ranked 71st in D-1 in terms of passing the rock. The Cougars are shooting 36.0% on shots from 3-point land (168 of 467) and 69.2% from the charity stripe. They are averaging 80.8 pts per contest (59th in D-1) while hitting 47.9% from the field.

On the defensive end, the Cougars are able to force 12.7 turnovers per game while drawing 16.8 fouls. They give up 35.4% from 3-point land and they are ranked 56th in Division 1 in PPG from their opponents (66.6). The Cougars are giving up a FG percentage of 41.4% (370 of 893) and they relinquish 29.4 boards per game as a group. They currently rank 94th in college hoops in allowing assists to their opponents with 202 relinquished for the campaign.

The last time they took the court, the Utah Utes took home the win by a final score of 73-65 against TCU. The Utes were able to corral 31 defensive boards and 7 offensive boards for a total of 38 for this game. They also turned it over 12 times, while recording 4 steals for this contest. TCU was called for 19 fouls in this matchup which took the Utes to the charity stripe for a total of 29 tries. They were able to knock down 19 of them for a rate of 65.5%. Regarding shots from 3-point land, Utah converted 6 out of their 21 tries (28.6%). Overall, the Utes went 24 for 49 from the floor which gave them a rate of 49.0%. The Utes permitted TCU to make 24 out of their 64 tries from the field which left them shooting 37.5% in the matchup. They wrapped up this game 35.0% from 3-point land by shooting 7 of 20 and finished the game at 10 of 21 from the free throw line (47.6%). In regard to attacking the glass, Utah allowed TCU to collect 31 in total (13 offensive).

Gabe Madsen ended up being a major contributor for the Utes for this game. He knocked down 4 of 15 in this contest giving him a field goal percentage of 26.7%, and totaled 2 rebounds. He recorded 17 points in his 35 mins on the hardwood and accounted for 5 assists for this game.

Utah has a win-loss mark of 10-6 this season. The Utes have committed 17.8 fouls per game and they connect on 64.0% from the charity stripe. They are earning an assist 20.3 times per game (2nd in college hoops) and they cough up possession 11.8 times per game. Utah has scored 1,290 points for the year (80.6 per game) and they pull down 40.2 boards per contest. As an offensive team, the Utes are hitting on 47.0% from the floor, which ranks 85th in college.

The Utah defense concedes 32.2% on shots from beyond the arc (124 of 385) and opponents are connecting on 69.6% of their free throw shots. They concede 12.3 assists and 35.1 boards on a nightly basis, which ranks them 118th and 225th in D-1. The Utes on defense are ranked 134th in the nation in points allowed per contest with 69.9. They have forced 12.1 TO's every game and allow teams to shoot 39.9% from the floor (37th in the nation).

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

Tony Sink's Pick: Take BYU

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