BYU vs Central Arkansas Prediction 11-5-24 College Basketball Picks

In this article, we will formulate a BYU vs Central Arkansas prediction for this College Basketball game on Tuesday, November 5th at the Marriott Center in Provo, Utah. Let’s take a look at the prediction for this College Basketball matchup.

BYU Cougars Betting Preview

The BYU Cougars went 23-11 last year and they finished 10-8 in the Big 12, which was fifth in the standings. BYU scored 81.4 points per game and they allowed 69.9 points against per game last year. The Cougars opened the season last year with a 110-63 win over Houston Christian and they won their first eight games. BYU played pretty well in Big 12 play and did win four of their last six regular season games. The Cougars defeated UCF by a score of 87-73 in the Big 12 tourney, but lost to Texas Tech, before losing to Duquesne by a score of 71-67 in the NCAA Tournament. 

BYU did lose Jaxson Robinson, who was the leading scorer last season, but they did bring back Fousseyni Traore, who averaged 10.9 points per game. The Cougars also bring back their third and fifth leading scorers, so there is a decent amount of returning production here. 

Central Arkansas Bears Betting Preview

The Central Arkansas Bears were 9-23 last season and they finished 5-11 in the A-Sun, which was 10th in the conference. Central Arkansas scored 72.2 points per game and they allowed 78.2 points per game last year. The Bears lost their first game of last season against Tulsa by a score of 70-53 and didn’t get their first D-1 win until December 7th. Central Arkansas did go through a 4-1 stretch in the middle of the season, but they ended up losing eight of their last nine games. 

Central Arkansas did lose their leading scorer from last year, but they did bring back their second-leading scorer, who averaged 11.9 points and 6.1 rebounds per game. After Elias Cato, there isn’t much-returning production, so I don’t think they will be much better than last season. 

BYU vs Central Arkansas Prediction 

BYU comes into this season bringing back three of their top five scorers from last year’s tournament team, so they are positioned decently well coming into the season. The Cougars were very high-scoring last season, but only managed 67 points in their tournament loss. Central Arkansas is replacing a lot of their production from last season and while Cato had a solid year, there isn’t much coming back from that team. I don’t love how big this spread is in the first game of the season, but I think it is BYU or pass for me.