UMass Minutemen vs Buffalo Bulls Prediction, 1/23/2026 College Basketball Picks, Best Bets & Odds

Game: UMass Minutemen vs Buffalo Bulls

Date: Friday, January 23, 2026

Location: Alumni Arena in Buffalo, NY

TV: ESPN+

The Buffalo Bulls (13-5) are welcoming the UMass Minutemen (11-8) at Alumni Arena on Friday.

The UMass Minutemen faced off with Toledo and walked away with a win by a score of 84-82 in their last game. Concerning fouls, the Minutemen ended up finishing with 18 and Toledo finished the game with 16 fouls. They made 6 out of their 14 tries from distance. Toledo walked away from this one shooting 80.0% from the free throw line by knocking down 20 of 25 attempts. In addition, Toledo pulled down 26 boards (6 offensive, 20 defensive), but wrapped up the game with no rejections. Toledo doled out 14 assists and had 9 steals for this contest. In regard to defense, UMass allowed the other team to shoot 54.9% from the field on 28 out of 51 shooting. They also recorded 19 assists for the matchup while forcing the other team into 15 turnovers and earning 8 steals. When it comes to grabbing rebounds, they earned a total of 33 with 13 of them being offensive. At the free throw line, the Minutemen knocked down 15 of 22 attempts for a rate of 68.2%. UMass ended the contest with a 49.2% field goal percentage (30 out of 61) and buried 9 of their 22 three-point shots.

Leonardo Bettiol is one player who came through in this contest. He walked away from this one shooting 44.4% from the field but had no assists when the time ran out. He played 33 mins and grabbed 9 rebounds. He recorded 20 points on 8 of 18 shooting.

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UMass enters this contest with a record of 11-8 for the year. They are turning it over 13.8 times per contest and as a team they commit 20.9 personal fouls per contest. As a team, UMass is pulling down 38.3 boards per game and has accounted for 337 assists for the year, which is 22nd in D-1 in terms of passing. The Minutemen are hitting 34.7% on three-point shots (144 of 415) and 67.4% from the free throw line. They have an average of 80.1 points per contest (115th in D-1) while shooting 46.2% from the floor.

On defense, the Minutemen are able to force 13.1 turnovers per contest while drawing 20.2 fouls. They rank 265th in college hoops in giving up assists with 269 surrendered so far this year. The Minutemen defense is allowing and opponent field goal percentage of 43.5% (470 of 1,080) and they relinquish 32.4 rebounds per contest as a squad. They give up 28.6% on 3-point shots and they are ranked 201st in D-1 in PPG allowed (74.2).

The last time they took the court, the Buffalo Bulls walked away from this one with a loss by a score of 82-63 when they faced Akron. In reference to rebounding, Buffalo permitted Akron to pull down 38 in all (9 on the offensive glass). They shot 40.0% from downtown by going 14 out of 35 and ended up going 14 of 19 at the free throw line (73.7%). The Bulls permitted Akron to make 27 out of their 58 tries from the floor which gave them a shooting percentage of 46.6% for the matchup. When all was said and done, the Bulls finished shooting 23 out of 65 from the floor which had them at 35.4%. Regarding shots from downtown, Buffalo made 8 of 32 attempts (25.0%). They were able to convert 9 of those for a rate of 69.2%. Akron had 14 fouls in the matchup which got the Bulls to the charity stripe for a total of 13 shots. They turned it over 13 times, while getting 6 steals for the contest. The Bulls collected 22 defensive rebounds and 14 offensive boards totaling 36 for this game.

Ryan Sabol was important for the Bulls for this game. He knocked down 9 out of 21 for the contest for a rate of 42.9%, and had 3 rebounds. He recorded 26 points in his 38 mins on the hardwood, but went home with no dimes.

Buffalo has a record of 13-5 for the year. As an offensive team, the Bulls are shooting 48.5% from the floor, which ranks 44th in the nation. Buffalo has accounted for 1,461 pts so far this season (81.2 per game) and they grab 32.2 rebounds per contest. Their rate of earning assists is at 14.7 times per contest (155th in college hoops) and they lose possession via turnover 10.3 times per contest. The Bulls have committed 16.6 fouls per game and they go 74.4% from the charity stripe.

The Bulls are ranked 212th in the nation in PPG allowed with 74.5. They are forcing their opponents into 12.1 TO's per game and have let teams shoot 45.9% from the floor (296th in the nation). The Buffalo defense allows 33.4% on 3-pointers (150 of 449) and their opponents are connecting on 74.7% of their shots from the charity stripe. They relinquish 15.5 dimes and 32.6 boards per contest, which is ranked 307th and 78th in college hoops.

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

Josh Schonwald's Pick: Take UMass

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