BYU Cougars vs Cincinnati Bearcats Prediction, 2/8/2025 College Basketball Picks, Best Bets & Odds

Game: BYU Cougars vs Cincinnati Bearcats

Date: Saturday, February 8, 2025

Location: Fifth Third Arena in Cincinnati, OH

TV: ESPN+

The Cincinnati Bearcats (13-9) will go up against the BYU Cougars (15-7) at Fifth Third Arena on Saturday.

The BYU Cougars took the court against Arizona and ended up losing by a score of 85-74 in their last contest. In regard to fouls, the Cougars walked away with 15 while Arizona totaled 12 fouls. They also buried 8 out of their 21 tries from 3-point range. Arizona finished shooting 88.2% at the charity stripe by making 15 of their 17 attempts. On top of that, Arizona pulled down 38 rebounds (11 offensive, 27 defensive), but didn't have a block. Arizona recorded 19 dimes and had 6 steals for the matchup. With respect to defense, BYU allowed the other team to go 49.2% from the floor on 31 out of 63 shooting. They also doled out 14 assists for this game in addition to forcing the opposition into 12 turnovers and getting 7 steals. Concerning hauling in rebounds, they compiled 29 with 9 of them being of the offensive sort. When they shot from the free throw line, the Cougars knocked down 8 of their 14 attempts for a percentage of 57.1%. BYU wrapped up the game with a 41.8% field goal percentage (28 out of 67) and converted 10 of their 34 3-point shots.

Egor Demin is one player who came through for this contest. He finished the game at 35.0% from the floor and recorded 3 assists. He played for 29 mins and totaled 3 boards. He walked away with 16 points on 7 out of 20 shooting.

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BYU enters this game with a record of 15-7 this season. They average 80.7 pts per game (44th in college hoops) while going 48.1% from the field. The Cougars are shooting 37.0% on shots from 3-point land (234 of 632) and 68.5% from the charity stripe. As a unit, BYU is collecting 38.2 boards per game and has accumulated 376 dimes for the year, which has them ranked 36th in D-1 in terms of passing. They lose possession by turning the ball over 12.0 times per game and as a unit are committing 15.9 fouls per contest.

On the defensive end of the court, the Cougars are able to force 12.5 turnovers on a nightly basis and they draw 16.5 personal fouls. They surrender 34.6% on shots from downtown while they are 87th in college hoops in PPG allowed (68.5). The Cougars defense is allowing an opponent FG percentage of 42.1% (523 of 1,241) and they relinquish 30.9 boards per contest as a unit. They are ranked 124th in college in allowing assists to the opposition with 282 relinquished for the season.

In their last game, the Cincinnati Bearcats took home the win by a final score of 93-83 when they faced UCF. The Bearcats corralled 19 defensive boards and 6 offensive boards for a total of 25 in the matchup. They also gave up possession of the ball 10 times, while earning 9 steals for the contest. UCF had 18 personal fouls for this game which got the Bearcats to the charity stripe for 19 shots. They were able to knock down 12 of the free throws for a rate of 63.2%. In terms of shooting from downtown, Cincinnati knocked down 5 of their 16 attempts (31.3%). When this game wrapped up, the Bearcats walked away from this one shooting 38 for 65 from the floor which gave them a rate of 58.5%. The Bearcats allowed UCF to knock down 32 out of their 67 tries from the field which had them sitting at 47.8% in this matchup. They wrapped up this game 22.7% from beyond the arc by shooting 5 out of 22 and finished the contest at 14 out of 18 at the free throw line (77.8%). When talking about cleaning the glass, Cincinnati permitted UCF to grab 36 overall (16 on the offensive glass).

Day Day Thomas pitched in for the Bearcats in the matchup. He accumulated 20 points in his 34 mins on the court and had 6 assists for the contest. He buried 9 out of 15 in the matchup giving him a field goal percentage of 60.0%, and had 3 rebounds.

Cincinnati has a record of 13-9 this year. The Bearcats commit 13.8 personal fouls every game and they connect on 65.5% from the charity stripe. Their rate of earning assists is at 14.2 times per contest (147th in college hoops) and they turn it over 10.0 times per contest. Cincinnati has 1,563 pts this year (71.0 per game) and they grab 35.3 rebounds per game. In terms of offensive execution, the Bearcats are hitting on 44.9% from the field, which ranks 179th in the nation.

The Bearcats are ranked 18th in D-1 in points per game surrendered with 63.9. They are forcing 12.9 TO's per game and have allowed teams to shoot 41.2% from the field (66th in college). The Cincinnati defense concedes 31.0% from downtown (129 of 416) and opponents are making 75.7% of their free throw attempts. They relinquish 11.4 dimes and 33.6 rebounds per contest, which has them ranked 53rd and 137th in the nation.

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

Josh Schonwald's Pick: Take Cincinnati

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