Cincinnati vs BYU Prediction 3/3/26 College Basketball Picks Today

The BYU Cougars and the Cincinnati Bearcats meet Tuesday in college basketball action at Fifth Third Arena. Here’s a BYU vs. Cincinnati prediction. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best BYU vs. Cincinnati pick.

BYU Cougars Betting Preview

The Cougars were looking pretty good on January 24 with a 17-2 overall record in the books. Losses came versus Arizona, Kansas, Oklahoma State, and Houston in the next four, though, then wins over Baylor, Colorado, and Iowa State in the four after that. Following two more losses to UCF and West Virginia from there, the Cougars are sitting at 20-9 overall this season.

In the West Virginia game over the weekend, the Cougars left the court in the first half sporting a 14-point deficit 40-26. BYU got better from there with a 45-39 advantage in the second half but it wasn’t enough for the comeback in a 79-71 loss on the road. Robert Wright led the team in the losing effort with 23 points, four rebounds, and four assists, while AJ Dybantsa added 20 points with seven rebounds.

Cincinnati Bearcats Betting Preview

Over on the Bearcats’ side, they were able to win 10 of their first 18 games to start the year. Cincinnati then hit a 1-4 run that featured losses to Arizona, Arizona State, Houston, and West Virginia. The Bearcats beat Central Florida, Kansas State, Utah, Kansas, and Oklahoma State over the next six games (with a loss to Texas Tech), which would give the team a 16-13 overall record this year.

In the Oklahoma State matchup on Saturday, the Bearcats were sitting in the locker room at the break looking up at a 51-33 edge on the scoreboard. Cincinnati hit a 40-35 run the rest of the way, leading to a 91-68 victory on their home court as the game came to a close. DayDay Thomas put up 26 points with two boards and two assists while Moustapha Thiam added 24 points and 15 rebounds for a double-double.

Why the Cincinnati Bearcats will win:

• Cincinnati has won six of its last seven home games.
• BYU has lost five of its last six road games.
• Cincinnati has won the first half in each of its last 12 games against conference opponents at Fifth Third Arena.

Why the BYU Cougars will win

• BYU has won 24 of its last 27 games against non-AP-ranked opponents.
• Cincinnati has lost 10 of its last 12 games against AP-ranked opponents.
• Cincinnati has lost the first half in seven of its last eight night games against AP-ranked opponents at Fifth Third Arena.

BYU vs Cincinnati Prediction

I’ll lean toward Cincinnati. The Bearcats didn’t have too many issues with a decent Oklahoma State team in a home win over the weekend, hitting 47.1 percent from the field with a 38-29 rebounding edge and just eight turnovers. Cincinnati held the Cowboys to just 40.7 percent shooting on the other side and scored 16 points off their 12 turnovers. The Bearcats are 5-1 in their last six games now, scoring a nice 69 or more points in all of those wins (and 84 or more in four of them).

As for BYU, they couldn’t quite keep pace with West Virginia in a road loss on Saturday despite hitting 47.1 percent from the field. The Cougars were outmuscled on the boards 35-26 and had 12 turnovers along the way. BYU has lost three of the last four games (with the lone win over Iowa State), giving up 75 or more points in each defeat.