St. Mary's Gaels vs BYU Cougars Prediction, 1/8/2022 College Basketball Picks, Best Bets & Odds

Game: St. Mary's Gaels vs BYU Cougars

Date: Saturday, January 8, 2022

Location: Marriott Center in Provo, UT

TV: ESPN2

The St. Mary's Gaels (12-3) are traveling to Marriott Center on Saturday where they will take on the BYU Cougars (12-3).

The St. Mary's Gaels played Yale and earned the victory with a final of 87-60 in their last game. When talking about fouls, the Gaels finished with 14 and Yale finished the game with 18 fouls. They knocked down 7 out of their 20 tries from downtown. Yale finished shooting 77.8% at the free throw line by burying 7 of their 9 shots. Moreover, Yale pulled down 21 rebounds (2 offensive, 19 defensive), but wasn't able to record a rejection. Yale totaled 11 assists and had 9 steals for the contest. In terms of defense, St. Mary's allowed the other team to go 46.9% from the field on 23 of 49 shooting. They also recorded 15 assists for the matchup as well as forcing the opposition into 23 turnovers and earning 15 steals. When talking about hauling in rebounds, they earned 32 with 12 of them being on the offensive end. At the free throw line, the Gaels made 17 of 21 shots for a rate of 81.0%. St. Mary's finished the contest with a 50.0% field goal percentage (32 out of 64) and made 6 out of their 21 3-point shots.

Logan Johnson is a player who played a role for this game. He was able to score 26 points on 10 of 14 shooting. He was on the hardwood for 27 mins and also pulled down 1 rebound. He went 71.4% from the field and totaled 3 dimes.

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St. Mary's will play this contest with a record of 12-3 on the year. They lose possession via turnover 12.7 times per game and as a unit they are committing 15.6 fouls on a nightly basis. As a team, St. Mary's is snagging 34.8 rebounds per contest and has 207 dimes so far this season, which is 81st in Division 1 in terms of passing the ball. The Gaels are hitting 33.3% on shots from 3-point land (103 of 309) and 71.4% from the free throw line. They have an average of 68.8 points per contest (262nd in the country) while shooting 46.7% from the floor.

When they are on defense, the Gaels are forcing their opponents into 13.3 turnovers on a nightly basis and they draw 15.9 personal fouls. They are giving up 33.3% on 3-pointers and they rank 12th in college hoops in PPG allowed (58.1). The Gaels defense is giving up an opponent shooting percentage of 41.2% (329 of 798) and they relinquish 27.7 boards per game as a basketball team. They are ranked 25th in the country in giving up assists to the opposition with 120 surrendered for the campaign.

When they last played, the BYU Cougars walked away with a victory by a final of 65-53 when they faced Westminster. The Cougars were able to pull down 29 defensive rebounds and 7 offensive boards for a total of 36 in the game. They also turned the ball over 8 times, while getting 4 steals for the game. Westminster was called for 10 personal fouls in the matchup which took the Cougars to the free throw line for a total of 3 tries. They were able to bury 1 of them for a percentage of 33.3%. When it comes to shots from beyond the perimeter, BYU made 14 out of 31 tries (45.2%). When the final whistle was blown, the Cougars shot 25 for 58 from the field which had them sitting at 43.1%. The Cougars permitted Westminster to bury 20 of 59 attempts from the field which had them sitting at 33.9% in this game. They shot 33.3% from behind the 3-point line by connecting on 10 of 30 and finished the game at 3 out of 6 from the free throw line (50.0%). In the matter of how they attacked the glass, BYU allowed Westminster to collect 36 in all (9 on the offensive side).

Gideon George ended up being a factor for the Cougars for the game. He totaled 17 points in his 23 minutes on the hardwood, but went home with no dimes. He converted 6 of 10 for the contest for a field goal rate of 60.0%, and added 8 rebounds.

BYU has a win-loss record of 12-3 on the season. In terms of offensive execution, the Cougars are connecting on 44.5% from the floor, which is ranked 170th in the country. BYU has earned 1,116 points this year (74.4 per game) and they pull in 40.9 boards per game. They are dishing out assists 14.8 times per contest (99th in the nation) and they turn it over 12.1 times per game. The Cougars are responsible for committing 17.6 fouls per game and they connect on 74.0% from the charity stripe.

The BYU defense gives up 27.8% on 3-pointers (90 of 324) and their opponents are making 67.4% of their shots from the charity stripe. They have allowed 10.5 dimes and 32.3 rebounds on a nightly basis, which is 51st and 80th in Division 1. The Cougars defensively are ranked 83rd in college basketball in points given up per game with 63.9. They are forcing 11.3 TO's every game and have let teams shoot 39.4% from the floor (55th in the country).

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

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

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