BYU vs Loyola Marymount 3/4/22 College Basketball Picks, Predictions, Odds

The Loyola Marymount Lions and the BYU Cougars meet Friday in West Coast Tournament college basketball action from Orleans Arena. LMU is sitting at 11-17 on the season. The Lions beat Pacific in their Thursday tournament matchup. As for BYU, they’re 21-9 this year and coming off a win over Pepperdine. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.

Loyola Marymount was 9-7 back on January 20, but then hit a rough 10-game losing streak. The Lions were able to get a 90-77 win over Pacific last weekend to stop the bleeding. LMU had to face the Tigers again on Thursday. 

In the tournament game versus Pacific, the Lions were ahead 39-34 by halftime. Loyola Marymount pulled off a 47-32 run in the second half on the way to an 86-66 blowout win. Tops in scoring was Joe Quintana on 31 points and three steals. 

Over on the BYU side, they had a rough four-game losing streak going in January/February, but outside of that they haven’t lost consecutive games all year. The Cougars are 4-1 in their last five with wins over LMU and Pepperdine—twice against each. 

In the Saturday rematch against Pepperdine, the Cougars held a slim three-point lead by halftime. BYU kept it up in the second half with 39 points in a 75-59 victory. Fousseyni Traore was the leading scorer on 25 points with 19 rebounds.

BYU is 2-9 ATS in the last 11 overall and 1-7 ATS in their last eight after an ATS loss. The under is 5-2 in the Cougars’ last seven overall. 

Meanwhile, LMU is 4-1 ATS in their last five neutral-site games and 1-4 ATS in their last five after a straight-up win. The over is 7-1 in LMU’s last eight overall. 

PICK: I’m likely going to stick with BYU here. The Cougars have recovered well over the last five games and 4-1 streak, even if the victories were only against two different teams. BYU scored 75 or more points in each of those wins, and generally they’ve put up good points totals in comparable matchups this year. 

As for Loyola Marymount, they lost by one point in OT the first time these teams met up but were blown out 79-59 in the road rematch on February 24. The Lions have been competitive lately so this one could get interesting, but I still like BYU better on a potential cover.