Portland Pilots vs St. Mary's Gaels Prediction, 1/28/2021 College Basketball Pick, Tips and Odds

Game: Portland Pilots vs St. Mary's Gaels

Date: Thursday, January 28, 2021

Location: University Credit Union Pavilion in Fresno, CA

TV: CBSSN

Odds/Point Spread: Portland (+18.5)

University Credit Union Pavilion is the site where and the St. Mary's Gaels (11-5) will take on the Portland Pilots (6-10) on Thursday. Portland opens this contest as 18.5-point dogs. The O/U has been set at 132.

Portland heads into this contest with a record of 6-10 on the campaign. They cough up possession 14.3 times per game and as a unit they commit 16.2 personal fouls every game. As a team, Portland is collecting 30.8 rebounds per game and has accumulated 190 dimes for the year, which is 136th in D-1 in terms of passing. The Pilots are shooting 31.7% on 3-point shots (106 of 334) and 77.8% from the free throw line. They currently have an average of 70.5 pts per contest (213th in Division 1) while shooting 41.0% from the floor. When they are on the defensive end, the Pilots have forced 15.2 turnovers every game while drawing 19.8 personal fouls. The Pilots defense is giving up a shooting percentage of 48.6% (489 of 1,007) and they surrender 39.0 boards per contest as a team. They currently rank 346th in D-1 in allowing assists to the opposition with 305 surrendered for the year. They relinquish 35.4% from beyond the arc while they are 333rd in college basketball in points per game allowed (80.8).

The Portland Pilots faced the Loyola Marymount Lions and took a loss by a score of 75-50 in their last game. Portland ended the contest having earned a 41.2% FG percentage (21 out of 51) and converted 7 of 21 shots from downtown. At the free throw line, the Pilots knocked down 1 of their 2 shots for a percentage of 50.0%. In terms of pulling down rebounds, they earned 13 with 1 of them being on the offensive end. They also recorded 14 assists in the matchup as well as getting 7 steals and 4 blocked shots. When talking about defense, Portland let their opponent shoot 41.2% from the floor on 21 of 51 shooting. Loyola Marymount distributed 20 dimes and had 2 steals for the game. Additionally, the Lions had 35 rebounds (9 offensive, 26 defensive) and got 4 rejections. Loyola Marymount finished shooting 66.7% at the free throw line by converting 6 of 9 tries. They also buried 13 of their 25 shots from long range.

Latrell Jones is someone who was a major factor for this contest. He ended up walking away with 13 points on 6 of 9 shooting. He was on the court for 30 minutes and totaled 2 boards. Jones finished 66.7% from the field and dished out 3 dimes. Someone else that was a major contributor in the game for the Pilots was Eddie Davis. He snagged 3 rebounds and also tallied 2 dimes. He ended up going 44.4% from the field in this game by connecting on 4-of-9 (11 points). When the final whistle was blown, Davis saw the court for 38 min.

St. Mary's has a record of 11-5 so far this season. St. Mary's has scored 1,070 pts so far this season (66.9 per contest) and they average 35.1 boards per game. The Gaels are committing 16.8 personal fouls per contest while shooting 71.6% from the charity stripe. When it comes to offensive execution, the Gaels are connecting on 43.6% from the floor, which ranks them 224th in college basketball. Their rate of earning assists is at 11.4 times per contest (292nd in the nation) and they cough up possession 10.9 times per contest. The Gaels on defense are ranked 20th in college basketball in points per game surrendered with 61.9. They have conceded 7.5 assists and 30.6 total rebounds per game, which is ranked 1st and 25th in college hoops. The St. Mary's defense gives up 35.0% on shots from distance (83 of 237) and their opponents are converting on 72.5% of their shots from the charity stripe. They have forced 11.8 TO's every game and allow teams to shoot 42.1% from the field (130th in D-1).

When they last stepped on the court, the St. Mary's Gaels got the victory with a final of 67-63 when they faced the San Francisco Dons. The Gaels collected 25 defensive rebounds and 2 offensive boards for a total of 27 in this contest. They rejected 3 attempts while earning 4 steals for the matchup. The Dons had 14 personal fouls for this game which got the Gaels to the free throw line for a total of 14 attempts. They were able to bury 12 of them for a percentage of 85.7%. In the matter of shooting from 3-point land, St. Mary's made 5 of 14 tries (35.7%). When the game finished, the Gaels went 25 for 48 from the floor which had them at 52.1%. The Gaels permitted the Dons to bury 23 out of 57 attempts from the floor which had them at 40.4% for the game. They finished the game shooting 42.9% from behind the 3-point line via 9 out of 21 and walked away from this one shooting 8 out of 14 at the charity stripe (57.1%). With respect to how they attacked the glass, St. Mary's permitted San Francisco to grab 34 in all (11 on the offensive side).

Logan Johnson was important for the Gaels for this contest. He knocked down 10 out of 15 in the matchup giving him a field goal percentage of 66.7%, which had him finishing with 20 points. Johnson grabbed 4 rebounds in his 36 minutes and had 3 dimes for the contest. Someone else that was pivotal for St. Mary's was Tommy Kuhse. He was able to score 18 points in 40 minutes on the hardwood via 4 out of 7 from the floor in the matchup. Kuhse ended the game having shot 57.1% from the floor while also totaling 3 assists and 2 rebounds.

Who will win tonight's college basketball game against the spread?

Josh Schonwald's Pick: Take Portland (+18.5)

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