BYU vs Loyola Marymount 2/24/22 College Basketball Picks, Predictions, Odds

The Loyola Marymount Lions and the BYU Cougars meet in college basketball action from the Marriott Center on Thursday night.

The Loyola Marymount Lions will look to snap a nine-game losing streak after a 69-68 loss to Pacific last time out. Eli Scott has a team-high 17.1 PPG and 6.7 RPG to lead the Lions in scoring and rebounding while also posting a team-high 3.3 APG as well this season. Joe Quintana has 11.9 PPG while Dameane Douglas has 10.8 PPG with 4.5 RPG to cap off the trio of double-digit scorers for LMU so far this season, but Douglas will be out for the rest of the year due to injury, which is a huge blow for LMU. Keli Leaupepe has 9.2 PPG and 4.8 RPG and Cam Shelton has 9 PPG as well this season for the Lions. As a team, Loyola Marymount is averaging 68.6 PPG on 45.1% shooting from the field, 33.4% from three and 72.2% from the foul line while allowing 73.6 PPG on 47.4% shooting from the field and 36.3% from three this season.

The BYU Cougars will try to bounce back from a 69-64 loss to Saint Mary’s last time out. Alex Barcello leads the Cougars with 17.5 PPG while Fousseyni Traore has a team-high 8.2 RPG to lead the Cougars on the glass and Te’Jon Lucas has 10.6 PPG with a team-high 4.7 APG to lead the Cougars in the assist department and to make up the other half of the pair of double-digit scorers for BYU so far this season. As a team, BYU is averaging 73.4 PPG on 44.9% shooting from the field, 36.5% from three and 72.9% from the foul line while allowing 68.5 PPG on 42.3% shooting from the field and 30.6% from three this season.

Loyola Marymount is 1-6 ATS in their last 7 road games and 1-5 ATS in their last 6 road games against a team with a home winning percentage above .600 while the over is 5-0 in their last 5 games overall. BYU is 0-4 ATS in their last 4 home games and 1-8 ATS in their last 9 games overall while the over is 4-0 in their last 4 home games following three or more consecutive road games.

I get the case to be made for both sides in this one, but I’m actually leaning towards Loyola Marymount here. The Cougars just haven’t been good at covering these bigger numbers as of late and LMU just gave BYU all they could handle a couple of weeks ago, losing in OT by one point. I think BYU probably wins but LMU covers here.