St. Mary's Gaels vs Santa Clara Broncos Prediction, 1/17/2026 College Basketball Picks, Best Bets & Odds

Game: St. Mary's Gaels vs Santa Clara Broncos

Date: Saturday, January 17, 2026

Location: Leavey Center in Santa Clara, CA

TV: ESPN+

The St. Mary's Gaels (17-2) are headed to Leavey Center on Saturday where they will take on the Santa Clara Broncos (15-5).

The St. Mary's Gaels played San Francisco and went home with a win by a final score of 82-68 in their last game. In regard to fouls, the Gaels walked away with 16 while San Francisco had 20 fouls. They buried 11 of their 26 attempts from 3-point land. San Francisco finished the game at 38.5% when shooting free throws by making 5 of their 13 shots. Moreover, San Francisco pulled down 24 rebounds (4 offensive, 20 defensive), but didn't notch a block. San Francisco earned 11 assists and had 6 steals in this game. Concerning defense, St. Mary's let their opponent shoot 44.1% from the floor on 26 of 59 shooting. They also doled out 18 assists in this contest as well as forcing 9 turnovers and getting 6 steals. With regard to hauling in boards, they compiled 36 with 7 of them being on the offensive end. From the charity stripe, the Gaels made 22 of 25 tries for a percentage of 88.0%. St. Mary's finished with a 50.0% FG percentage (26 out of 52) and knocked down 8 of their 15 shots from 3-point land.

Paulius Murauskas is one guy who was important for the contest. He ended up with 21 points on 7 out of 17 shooting. He played for 37 mins played and grabbed 2 boards. He finished shooting 41.2% from the floor and also totaled 2 dimes.

Get all of our NCAA Parlay Picks

St. Mary's heads into this game with a win-loss record of 17-2 on the year. They currently have an average of 79.9 points per contest (120th in the nation) while going 47.4% from the floor. The Gaels are shooting 38.6% on shots beyond the perimeter (146 of 378) and 82.0% from the charity stripe. As a team, St. Mary's is grabbing 39.6 boards per game and has earned 292 dimes on the season, which has them ranked 59th in the nation in terms of passing the ball. They are turning it over 11.3 times per contest and as a team they are committing 15.2 fouls on a nightly basis.

On the defensive end of the court, the Gaels are forcing their opponents into 10.7 turnovers per game while drawing 18.7 personal fouls. They currently rank 248th in college in giving up assists to their opponents with 248 surrendered for the year. The Gaels defense is giving up a field goal percentage of 40.8% (458 of 1,122) and they surrender 28.5 boards per game as a unit. They are relinquishing 30.4% on three-point shots and they rank 19th in college hoops in opponents points per game (65.1).

When they last played, the Santa Clara Broncos got the win with a final of 85-69 when they faced Pacific. In the matter of attacking the glass, Santa Clara allowed Pacific to pull down 33 in all (10 on the offensive side). They finished 50.0% from three-point range by shooting 11 out of 22 and walked away from this one shooting 10 out of 13 from the free throw line (76.9%). The Broncos allowed Pacific to bury 24 of their 48 tries from the floor which left them with a shooting percentage of 50.0% in this contest. When the final whistle blew, the Broncos went 29 for 60 from the field which had them shooting 48.3%. When it comes to shots from beyond the arc, Santa Clara made 10 out of their 27 attempts (37.0%). They were able to make 17 of them for a clip of 89.5%. Pacific had 14 fouls for this contest which got the Broncos to the free throw line for a total of 19 shots. They also coughed it up 7 times, while recording 8 steals in the game. The Broncos corralled 15 defensive rebounds and 8 offensive rebounds for a total of 23 for this game.

Aleksandar Gavalyugov was important for the Broncos for the matchup. He tallied 37 points in his 31 mins on the court and totaled 1 assist in the game. He converted 14 of 20 in this matchup giving him a field goal percentage of 70.0%, and earned 5 rebounds.

Santa Clara has a record of 15-5 so far this year. The Broncos have committed 19.5 fouls every game while shooting 72.9% from the charity stripe. They are dishing out assists 17.9 times per contest (32nd in the country) and they turn it over 11.8 times per game. Santa Clara has tallied 1,667 pts so far this season (83.4 per game) and they pull down 36.6 rebounds per game. When it comes to offensive execution, the Broncos are shooting 46.6% from the field, which is 121st in the country.

The Broncos defensively are ranked 120th in the nation in PPG given up with 71.4. They are forcing 15.0 TO's every game and allow teams to shoot 44.8% from the field (247th in Division 1). The Santa Clara defense allows 33.3% on shots from beyond the arc (140 of 421) and their opponents are converting on 73.6% of their free throw attempts. They have conceded 15.2 assists and 31.4 rebounds every game, which is ranked 290th and 39th in those categories on the defensive end.

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

Guy Bruhn's Pick: Take St. Mary's

Get $60 worth of FREE premium member picks. No Obligation. No Salesman. No Credit Card. Fast Sign up with Instant Access Click Here

Get college basketball picks on every single game, or if you want our very best bets by the experts, sign up for your free $60 account with a guarantee.