The Bellarmine Knights and the BYU Cougars meet Friday in college basketball action from Marriott Center. Bellarmine is fresh off a Wednesday matchup versus Utah. In that one the Knights took a blowout loss. As for BYU, they’re doing well at 10-1 overall so far. The Cougars beat Georgia State in their last outing. Let’s get into our Bellarmine vs. BYU prediction. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.

Bellarmine Knights 

The Knights were only able to win four of their first 12 games this year over Bowling Green, Midway University, Boyce and Berea. Otherwise Bellarmine took a series of losses to Washington, Kansas State, Chattanooga, Morehead State, West Virginia, Louisville, Ball State and Evansville in that time. 

On Wednesday versus Utah, the Knights were outscored 37-26 in the first half and 48-17 the rest of the way for a rough blowout loss 85-43. Tops on the team in scoring was Billy Smith with 14 points, while Langdon Hatton added 10 points with nine rebounds and one assist. 

BYU Cougars 

Over on the Cougars’ side, they started out the year on a nice 8-0 run. The wins in that time were over Houston Christian, San Diego State, SE Louisiana, Morgan State, Arizona State, NC State, Fresno State and Evansville. After a loss to Utah, BYU came back with wins over Denver and Georgia State in the next pair. 

Last Saturday versus Georgia State, the Cougars didn’t have too many issues. BYU got off to a 39-26 start in the first half, then extended their lead with a 47-28 run in an 86-54 blowout result. Richie Saunders led the team on 20 points and six rebounds off the bench, and Trevin Knell added 15 points. 

ANDREW’S FREE BELLARMINE VS BYU PREDICTION 

I’ll stick with BYU in this one. The Cougars are playing well so far, and they’re coming off a convincing win versus an overmatched Georgia State squad. BYU put up a nice 45.7 percent shooting from the field in that one with 40 rebounds, 23 team assists and just four total turnovers. That makes 74 or more points in every win so far for the Cougars, so they should be able to post a nice total on Friday as well. I don’t see Bellarmine getting anywhere close in this one, so the only question is the margin of victory. I think BYU will get there on a cover.