Louisville Cardinals vs SMU Mustangs Prediction, 1/21/2025 College Basketball Picks, Best Bets & Odds

Game: Louisville Cardinals vs SMU Mustangs

Date: Tuesday, January 21, 2025

Location: Moody Coliseum in Dallas, TX

TV: ESPN+

Moody Coliseum is the location where the SMU Mustangs (14-4) will try to defeat the Louisville Cardinals (14-5) on Tuesday.

The Louisville Cardinals stepped onto the hardwood against Virginia and notched a win by a score of 81-67 in their last contest. In reference to personal fouls, the Cardinals finished with 16 while Virginia racked up 21 personal fouls. They knocked down 8 out of their 21 attempts from beyond the arc. Virginia ended up going 57.9% at the free throw line by making 11 of their 19 tries. In addition, Virginia collected 28 boards (4 offensive, 24 defensive), but wrapped up the game with no rejections. Virginia earned 14 dimes and had 5 steals in the game. Concerning defense, Louisville allowed their opponent to shoot 47.1% from the field on 24 out of 51 shooting. They also recorded 11 assists for the matchup as well as forcing the other team into 14 turnovers and having 8 steals. When it comes to hauling in boards, they compiled a total of 33 with 8 of them being of the offensive sort. At the free throw line, the Cardinals knocked down 23 of 27 tries for a percentage of 85.2%. Louisville ended the contest having earned a 43.3% FG percentage (26 of 60) and converted 6 out of their 23 3-pointers.

Reyne Smith is someone who was a major contributor for this contest. He shot 36.4% from the floor but had no dimes when the game ended. He played for 32 mins played and also collected 4 boards. He accumulated 19 points on 4 out of 11 shooting.

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Louisville will enter this contest with a mark of 14-5 this season. They cough up possession 11.3 times per game and as a team they are committing 15.8 fouls per game. As a team, Louisville is snagging 38.4 rebounds per contest and has tallied 257 dimes so far this year, which has them ranked 179th in Division 1 in terms of passing the rock. The Cardinals are shooting 30.7% on shots from downtown (178 of 580) and 73.3% from the free throw line. They are averaging 78.4 points per contest (94th in Division 1) while hitting 43.7% from the floor.

When they are on defense, the Cardinals are forcing their opponents into 13.6 turnovers per contest while drawing 19.6 fouls. They concede 35.0% on 3-pointers and they rank 120th in college hoops in PPG allowed (69.6). The Cardinals are giving up and opponent field goal percentage of 43.8% (480 of 1,095) and they relinquish 33.2 rebounds per game as a unit. They are ranked 161st in college hoops in giving up assists with 234 surrendered on the season.

In their last game, the SMU Mustangs walked away with a victory by a final of 117-74 when they faced Miami. The Mustangs were able to corral 21 defensive boards and 8 offensive boards totaling 29 for this contest. They turned the ball over 8 times, while earning 10 steals for this game. Miami committed 11 personal fouls for the game which got the Mustangs to the charity stripe for a total of 17 attempts. They were able to make 13 of the free throw attempts for a clip of 76.5%. When talking about shooting from distance, SMU buried 14 of their 25 attempts (56.0%). At the conclusion of this game, the Mustangs walked away from this one shooting 45 out of 65 from the floor which had them shooting 69.2%. The Mustangs permitted Miami to make 26 out of 56 tries from the floor which had them shooting 46.4% for the game. They went 28.6% from beyond the arc by hitting 4 out of 14 and ended up going 18 of 22 from the charity stripe (81.8%). In reference to rebounds, SMU allowed Miami to collect 17 overall (8 on the offensive glass).

Kevin Miller was important for the Mustangs in the matchup. He converted 7 out of 11 in the game for a field goal rate of 63.6%, and added 2 rebounds. He recorded 18 points in his 28 minutes on the hardwood and had 10 dimes in this contest.

SMU has a win-loss record of 14-4 on the year. When it comes to executing on offense, the Mustangs are shooting 48.6% from the field, which ranks them 32nd in Division 1. SMU has totaled 1,526 pts for the year (84.8 per game) and they grab 40.3 rebounds per contest. Their rate of dishing out assists is at 16.7 times per game (39th in the nation) and they lose possession via turnover 11.4 times per contest. The Mustangs commit 16.7 fouls per contest and they connect on 72.3% from the charity stripe.

The SMU defense concedes 34.2% on 3-pointers (141 of 412) and opponents are making 73.9% of their shots from the free throw line. They have given up 14.8 dimes and 32.4 boards every game, which is ranked 302nd and 75th in Division 1. The Mustangs on the defensive side of the court are 192nd in Division 1 in points per game surrendered with 71.6. They are forcing their opponents into 13.1 turnovers on a nightly basis and allow teams to shoot 41.2% from the floor (70th in college).

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

Guy Bruhn's Pick: Take Louisville

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