College Basketball Picks

UAB vs UTEP College Basketball Picks, Odds, Predictions 2/5/21

UAB vs UTEP College Basketball Picks, Odds, Predictions 2/5/21
2021-02-05 19:30:00 EDT

The UTEP Miners and the UAB Blazers meet in college basketball action from Bartow Arena on Friday night.

The UTEP Miners will be looking to build on a 69-51 win over UTSA last time out. Souley Boum leads the Miners in scoring with 17.8 PPG while Bryson Williams has 15.3 PPG with 6.8 RPG to lead the Miners on the glass and Jamal Bieniemy has 10.5 PPG with a team-high 4.3 APG to lead UTEP in assists and to cap off the trio of double-digit scorers for UTEP coming into this matchup. Keonte Kennedy also has 8.4 PPG and 6 RPG for the Miners coming into this game as well. As a team, UTEP is averaging 72.3 PPG on 42.8% shooting from the field, 32.3% from 3-point range and 74% from the foul line while allowing 70.4 PPG on 43.5% shooting from the field and 34.5% from 3-point range this season.

The UAB Blazers will look to add to their 14-2 record after picking up a 63-52 win over Middle Tennessee last time out. Tevin Lovan leads the Blazers in scoring and assists with 13.2 PPG and 2.8 APG while Michael Ertel has 12.6 PPG and Jalen Benjamin has 11.5 PPG. Guan Jackson has 10 PPG with 6.3 RPG to cap off the group of double-digit scorers for UAB heading into this matchup. Tyreek Scott-Grayson also has 9.6 PPG and Trey Jemison has 7.8 PPG and 7.3 RPG as well this season. As a team, UAB is averaging 74.3 PPG on 45.7% shooting from the field, 30.2% from 3-point range and 71.1% from the foul line while allowing 58.1 PPG on 38.8% shooting from the field and 29.8% from 3-point range this season.

UTEP is 2-5 ATS in their last 7 games overall and 1-4 ATS in their last 5 road games while the over is 5-2 in their last 7 games following a win. UAB is 10-4 ATS in their last 14 home games and 3-1-1 ATS in their last 5 games overall while the under is 7-2-1 in their last 10 games as a home favorite.

I get why the points with UTEP are worth a look, but the problem I have with that is that the Miners haven’t been good on the defensive end and I’m not sure the offense can hold up their end of the bargain against this stout UAB defense. I just think the Miners are in a world of trouble here and think that this is UAB’s game to lose so I’ll back UAB and lay the points in this one.

Chris Ruffolo's Free Pick: UAB -7.5

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Chris Ruffolo

Chris joined the Sports Chat Place team in August 2016 and has a proven system that combines multiple analytical and situational statistics and trends to give out thousands of winning picks over the last three years with winning records across all of the top leagues, Follow Chris Ruffolo on Twitter @ruffthepickdawg

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