Minnesota vs UMKC College Basketball Picks, Odds, Predictions 11/9/21

The Kansas City Roos and Minnesota Golden Gophers meet Tuesday in college basketball action at the Williams Arena. The Kansas City Roos won 11 games last year and ended the season with three straight losses. The Minnesota Golden Gophers won 14 games last year and lost eight of their last nine games.

The Kansas City Roos lose their best player in Brandon McKissic, but they return two of their four double-digit scorers and have quality rebounders. Josiah Allick returns after averaging 15 points and six rebounds, while Arkel Lamar averaged 11.4 points and 0.4 assists. Marvin Nesbitt Jr. is a third double-digit returning scorer and Hidde Roessink averaged four rebounds. The Kansas City Roos are a promising team that took Kansas State down to the wire last season. Three straight road games to start the year will give us a good idea of Kansas City’s sure potential. 

The Minnesota Golden Gophers will look like a brand-new team after so many transfers this offseason. Eric Curry returns after averaging 3.7 points and 3.1 rebounds, while Isaiah Ihnen averaged 2.8 points and 3.5 rebounds. Those are the only returning players for Minnesota who played last season. The Minnesota Golden Gophers has a ton of incoming transfers who will have to find chemistry sooner than later, and they landed a four-star Treyton Thompson who should hit the ground running. We have to take a wait and see approach with Minnesota due to so much roster turnover.

The Roos are 12-4-1 ATS in their last 17 road games and 6-2 ATS in their last 8 games overall. The Golden Gophers are 7-19 ATS in their last 26 Tuesday games and 2-7 ATS in their last 9 games overall. The over is 4-1 in Golden Gophers last 5 overall.

The Minnesota Golden Gophers are going to be favored here for obvious reasons, but there’s potential for a serious slow start with only two players who played last season returning. The UMKC Roos may not have any household names, but they have three returning double-digit scorers and have that game against Kansas State that they can use as experience here. I like the Roos and the free buckets.