Montana vs Idaho 12/31/22 College Basketball Picks, Predictions, Odds

The Idaho Vandals and the Montana Grizzlies meet Saturday in college basketball action from Dahlberg Arena. Idaho is coming off a Thursday game versus Montana State. In that matchup the Vandals fell by 14 points. As for Montana, they played Eastern Washington in their Thursday game. The Grizzlies ended up losing that one by seven points. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.

Idaho went just 1-5 over their first six games this year, beating only Walla Walla. The Vandals hit a 5-2 run in the next seven outings, beating Pacific, Northern Illinois, North Dakota, Northwest Indian and CSU Northridge in that time. 

On Thursday versus Montana State, the Vandals were outscored 34-20 in the first half. Idaho kept pace from there but still lost 72-58. Divant’e Moffitt posted 19 points, and Nigel Burris doubled on 11 points and 11 rebounds. 

Over on the Montana side, they were 3-3 after six games this year, beating St. Thomas MN, Merrimack and MSU-Northern. The Grizzlies went 3-3 in their next six as well, taking out SD State, ND State and Prairie View A&M along the way. 

Matched up against Eastern Washington on Thursday, Montana held a slim 39-37 advantage at the break. The Grizzlies were outscored 50-41 in the second and lost 87-80. Josh Bannan led the way on a double-double with 24 points and 10 rebounds. 

PICK: I’ll probably stick with Montana. The Grizzlies are a sketchy 3-2 over their last five games, but the good news is that they’ve been scoring pretty well in that time. Montana has hit 75 or more points in all five of those outings—however they’ve also given up 75 or more points in four straight games. Idaho has scored well this year, with 71 or more points in 11 of 14 outings, but they’ve also given up points at a steady clip as well. This one’s looking like a fairly high-scoring matchup. Should be a fun one to watch.