DePaul vs Valparaiso Prediction 11-29-24 College Basketball Picks

The Valparaiso Beacons and the DePaul Blue Demons meet Friday in college basketball action from Wintrust Arena. Here’s a DePaul vs Valparaiso prediction. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best DePaul vs Valparaiso pick.

Valparaiso Beacons Betting Preview

The Beacons’ season kicked off with a 3-2 run over their first five games. The wins in that time were over Concordia MI, Lindenwood, and Eastern Illinois. Otherwise, it was losses to Liberty 83-63 and Cleveland State 75-67 for Valparaiso.

On Wednesday versus Northern Illinois, the Beacons held a slim 41-39 lead by the break. Valparaiso hit a 46-43 stretch from there in an 87-82 win. Both Cooper Schwieger (seven rebounds) and Tyler Schmidt posted a team-high 17 points.

DePaul Blue Demons Betting Preview

Over on the DePaul side, they don’t have any blemishes on the card so far. The Blue Demons have taken out Southern Indiana, Prairie View, Mercer, Duquesne, Eastern Illinois, and Northern Illinois in succession over their first half-dozen outings.

Matched up against NIU on Saturday, the Demons demolished the Huskies 51-15 in the first half and eventually rolled to a blowout win 98-52. Layden Blocker was the lead team scorer with 21 points, eight rebounds, and two assists.

Why the DePaul Blue Demons will win

• DePaul has won each of its last seven games against non-conference opponents.
• Valparaiso has lost each of its last six Friday games against non-conference opponents.
• DePaul has won the first half in each of its last seven games against non-conference opponents.

Why the Valparaiso Beacons will win

• DePaul has lost 12 of its last 14 games when playing with a rest advantage.
• Valparaiso has won four of its last five games.
• Valparaiso has won the first half in each of its last five games against non-AP-ranked opponents.

DePaul vs Valparaiso Prediction

I’m going to stay with DePaul. The Blue Demons posted a ridiculous blowout victory over Northern Illinois in their last outing, shooting a cool 54.5 percent from the field and 51.7 percent (15-of-29) from outside. DePaul held the Huskies to just 25.4 percent shooting from the field as well. It’s been a series of easy wins for the Demons in the last five; their closest margin of victory in that time was by nine points over Eastern Illinois.

As for Valparaiso, on Wednesday they were able to put together a pretty solid performance against a struggling NIU team despite getting out-rebounded 40-33 and shooting just 39 percent from the field. The Beacons have scored well lately with 77 or more points in three straight games. I don’t think they’ll be able to hang that many points on DePaul here, though.