UMass vs Saint Louis 1/20/22 College Basketball Picks, Predictions, Odds

The Saint Louis Billikens and the UMass Minutemen meet in college basketball action from the Mullins Memorial Center on Thursday night.

The Saint Louis Billikens will look to build on their 63-45 win over Fordham last time out. Gibson Jimerson leads the Billikens in scoring with 16.7 PPG while Marten Linssen has 10.1 PPG with 4.3 RPG and Jordan Nesbitt has 9.6 PPG with 4.5 RPG as well this season. Yuri Collins has 10.7 PPG with a team-high 7.8 APG while Francis Okoro has 9 points with a team-high 7.6 RPG as well for the Billikens up to this point in the season. Terrence Hargrove Jr. also has 8.9 PPG with 5.3 RPG this season. As a team, Saint Louis is averaging 78.4 PPG on 45.9% shooting from the field, 37.5% from three and 77% from the foul line while allowing 66.6 PPG on 41.1% shooting from the field and 30.7% from three this season.

The UMass Minutemen will try to snap a four-game losing streak after an 81-68 loss to Rhode Island last time out. Noah Fernandes leads the Minutemen in scoring and assists with 16.4 PPG and 5.4 APG in addition to 3.4 RPG while C.J. Kelly and Rich Kelly each have 13+ PPG this season. Trent Buttrick has 11.5 PPG and 5.6 RPG to lead the Minutemen on the glass and round out the group of double-digit scorers for UMASS so far this season. T.J. Weeks Jr. also has 9.1 PPG with 4.6 RPG as well on the year. As a team, UMASS is averaging 77.3 PPG on 44.4% shooting from the field, 41.4% from three and 73.2% from the foul line while allowing 78.3 PPG on 48.7% shooting from the field and 36.9% from three this season.

Saint Louis is 4-0 ATS in their last 4 games against a team with a losing record and 1-5 ATS in their last 6 road games while the over is 5-0 in their last 5 Thursday games. UMass is 4-1 ATS in their last 5 games against a team with a winning percentage above .600 and 25-9-1 ATS in their last 35 home games while the under is 7-2 in their last 9 games against a team with a winning record.

I get why you could consider a home dog in most spots like UMass, but while the Minutemen have been competitive as of late, the reality is that they’re getting covers with a boatload of points and falling short outside of the smaller numbers. Saint Louis hasn’t been as dominant as they were at times last season, but they’re the better team here and on the road, should be able to win by a couple of buckets. Give me the Billikens here.