UAB Blazers vs Santa Clara Broncos Prediction, 3/23/2025 College Basketball Picks, Best Bets & Odds

Game: UAB Blazers vs Santa Clara Broncos

Date: Sunday, March 23, 2025

Location: Leavey Center in Santa Clara, CA

TV: ESPNU

Odds/Point Spread: Santa Clara (-7)

The Santa Clara Broncos (21-12) will try to defeat the UAB Blazers (23-12) at Leavey Center on Sunday in the 2nd round of the NIT. UAB opens this matchup as 7-point dogs from oddsmakers. The total is set at 165.

The UAB Blazers stepped onto the hardwood against Saint Joseph's and notched a win by a score of 69-65 in their last contest. When it comes to personal fouls, the Blazers ended up walking away with 15 and Saint Joseph's recorded 14 personal fouls. They buried 7 of 33 attempts from 3-point range. Saint Joseph's finished the contest at 90.9% at the charity stripe by burying 10 of their 11 shots. On top of that, Saint Joseph's grabbed 32 rebounds (10 offensive, 22 defensive), but wasn't able to put a block in the stat sheet. Saint Joseph's dished out 12 assists and had 9 steals in the matchup. In regard to the defense, UAB let their opponent shoot 33.3% from the floor on 24 of 72 shooting. They also recorded 12 dimes in this matchup as well as forcing 8 turnovers and having 6 steals. In terms of hauling in rebounds, they compiled a total of 47 with 15 of them being of the offensive variety. At the free throw line, the Blazers converted 15 of 19 shots for a rate of 78.9%. UAB ended having earned a 36.8% FG percentage (25 out of 68) and converted 4 of their 14 3-pointers.

Yaxel Lendeborg is a player who played a role in this game. He walked away with 16 points on 5 of 16 shooting. He played 38 mins and collected 17 boards. He finished the game shooting 31.3% from the field and earned 3 assists.

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UAB heads into this game with a win-loss mark of 23-12 so far this season. They average 82.1 points per outing (19th in the nation) on 45.8% from the floor. The Blazers are connecting on 33.8% from downtown (228 of 675) and 76.2% from the charity stripe. As a team, UAB is grabbing 40.1 boards per contest and has tallied 561 dimes so far this year, which is 18th in D-1 in terms of passing the rock. They lose possession via turnover 10.1 times per game and as a team they are committing 15.5 fouls on a nightly basis.

Defensively, the Blazers are forcing 11.1 turnovers per game and they draw 16.1 personal fouls. They rank 295th in the nation in allowing assists to the opposition with 474 surrendered for the campaign. The Blazers defense is allowing an opponent shooting percentage of 44.7% (971 of 2,172) and they surrender 34.3 rebounds per game as a team. They give up 34.5% on shots from downtown and they are ranked 294th in D-1 in points per game allowed (75.9).

The last time they took the hardwood, the Santa Clara Broncos got the win with a final of 101-62 when they faced UC Riverside. With respect to cleaning up the glass, Santa Clara allowed UC Riverside to collect 25 in total (8 offensive). They finished 33.3% from beyond the arc by going 9 out of 27 and walked away from this one shooting 3 out of 3 at the free throw line (100.0%). The Broncos allowed UC Riverside to bury 25 of 63 attempts from the field which gave them a shooting percentage of 39.7% in the game. Overall, the Broncos went 37 out of 61 from the floor which had them at 60.7%. When discussing three-point attempts, Santa Clara converted 16 of their 27 tries (59.3%). They were able to make 11 of the free throws for a clip of 78.6%. UC Riverside had 11 fouls for the game which took the Broncos to the free throw line for a total of 14 attempts. They also gave up possession of the ball 6 times, while recording 9 steals in this matchup. The Broncos pulled down 26 defensive boards and 6 offensive boards for a total of 32 for the contest.

Tyeree Bryan ended up being a factor for the Broncos in the game. He had 17 points in his 30 minutes of playing time and accounted for 3 assists for this game. He knocked down 6 out of 8 for the matchup giving him a rate of 75.0%, and had 7 rebounds.

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Santa Clara has a record of 21-12 this year. The Broncos are committing 16.4 fouls per contest and they shoot 72.9% from the charity stripe. They are getting an assist 17.2 times per game (11th in the nation) and they turn it over 11.9 times per contest. Santa Clara has scored 2,702 pts this year (81.9 per contest) and they average 37.7 rebounds per contest. As an offense, the Broncos are connecting on 47.1% from the field, which ranks 57th in the nation.

The Santa Clara defense gives up 30.8% on shots from beyond the perimeter (242 of 785) and their opponents are converting on 72.3% of their free throw shots. They have given up 14.9 dimes and 32.9 rebounds every game, which is ranked 315th and 84th in those categories. The Broncos are ranked 201st in Division 1 in points given up per game with 72.5. They are able to force 12.0 turnovers per game and allow teams to shoot 43.3% from the floor (152nd in D-1).

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

Josh Schonwald's Pick: Take Santa Clara (-7)

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