St. Mary's Gaels vs Washington State Cougars Prediction, 1/25/2025 College Basketball Picks, Best Bets & Odds

Game: St. Mary's Gaels vs Washington State Cougars

Date: Saturday, January 25, 2025

Location: Beasley Coliseum in Pullman, WA

TV: ESPN+

The St. Mary's Gaels (16-3) are on their way to Beasley Coliseum on Saturday where they will attempt to beat the Washington State Cougars (15-5).

The St. Mary's Gaels took the court against Pepperdine and took home the win by a score of 74-50 in their last game. St. Mary's finished having earned a 46.9% field goal percentage (30 out of 64) and converted 7 of their 19 shots from downtown. At the free throw line, the Gaels buried 7 of 8 attempts for a rate of 87.5%. Regarding hauling in rebounds, they earned 39 with 12 of them being on the offensive end. They also recorded 14 dimes for the contest as well as forcing 5 turnovers and earning 4 steals. Concerning defense, St. Mary's allowed the other team to go 33.9% from the floor on 19 of 56 shooting. Pepperdine earned 9 assists and had 4 steals for the contest. On top of that, Pepperdine snagged 27 rebounds (7 offensive, 20 defensive), but didn't have a block. Pepperdine ended up shooting 64.3% at the free throw line by making 9 of their 14 shots. They buried 3 of their 12 shots from 3-point land. Concerning personal fouls, the Gaels finished with 11 and Pepperdine accumulated 9 personal fouls.

Luke Barrett is someone who was a major contributor for the matchup. He walked away from this one shooting 60.0% from the field but finished the game without a dime. He saw the court for 31 minutes played and also snagged 7 rebounds. He ended up with 14 points on 6 of 10 shooting.

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St. Mary's heads into this game with a win-loss mark of 16-3 for the season. They are averaging 76.8 points per game (130th in Division 1) while shooting 45.1% from the field. The Gaels are connecting on 34.1% on 3-pointers (136 of 399) and 70.1% from the free throw line. As a unit, St. Mary's is collecting 41.7 boards per game and is sitting with 322 assists this season, which is 30th in college hoops in terms of passing. They are losing possession via turnover 9.9 times per contest and as a team are committing 15.3 personal fouls every game.

On the defensive end, the Gaels are forcing 12.1 turnovers per game and they draw 17.3 fouls. They are currently ranked 149th in college hoops in giving up assists with 237 conceded for the season. The Gaels defensively are giving up and opponent field goal percentage of 40.0% (429 of 1,072) and they concede 30.5 boards per contest as a squad. They are conceding 32.0% on three-point shots and they are 7th in D-1 in points per game from their opponents (61.1).

In their last game, the Washington State Cougars took home the win by a final score of 92-70 when they faced Portland. In relation to cleaning the glass, Washington State allowed Portland to pull down 30 in total (8 on the offensive side). They finished shooting 30.0% from three-point range by connecting on 9 of 30 and finished the game at 19 out of 26 from the charity stripe (73.1%). The Cougars permitted Portland to convert 21 out of 54 attempts from the field which left them shooting 38.9% in the matchup. When the game finished, the Cougars shot 35 out of 66 from the floor which gave them a percentage of 53.0%. Pertaining to three-point attempts, Washington State made 8 out of their 27 tries (29.6%). They were able to bury 14 of the free throw attempts for a percentage of 60.9%. Portland earned 18 personal fouls in the game which got the Cougars to the charity stripe for a total of 23 shots. They also gave up possession of the ball 10 times, while earning 8 steals in the matchup. The Cougars were able to snag 24 defensive boards and 13 offensive rebounds for a total of 37 for the contest.

Nate Calmese ended up having an impact for the Cougars for this contest. He converted 11 out of 19 for the matchup for a field goal percentage of 57.9%, and accounted for 4 rebounds. He racked up 23 points in his 33 minutes on the court and totaled 8 dimes in this game.

Washington State has a win-loss mark of 15-5 so far this season. The Cougars are committing 19.7 personal fouls per game and they connect on 70.8% from the free throw line. Their rate of earning assists is at 17.1 times per game (29th in the nation) and they turn it over 15.2 times per contest. Washington State has accumulated 1,631 points this season (81.6 per contest) and they pull in 36.7 rebounds per contest. When it comes to offensive execution, the Cougars are connecting on 49.4% from the field, which has them ranked 12th in the nation.

The Washington State defense gives up 30.9% from downtown (147 of 476) and opponents are connecting on 68.6% of their shots from the charity stripe. They have conceded 12.7 dimes and 32.6 boards per contest, which is 151st and 83rd in college. The Cougars on the defensive end are ranked 276th in the country in PPG surrendered with 74.9. They are forcing 13.0 TO's per game and have allowed teams to shoot 43.3% from the floor (185th in college).

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

Guy Bruhn's Pick: Take Washington State

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