Oklahoma State vs Cincinnati Prediction 3/8/25 College Basketball Picks Today

The Cincinnati Bearcats and the Oklahoma State Cowboys meet Saturday in college basketball action from Gallagher-Iba Arena. Here’s an Oklahoma State vs Cincinnati prediction. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best Oklahoma State vs Cincinnati pick.

Cincinnati Bearcats Betting Preview

The Bearcats kicked off their season on a pretty great run. That said, it’s been a very choppy stretch for Cincinnati since late December. The first 11 outings were a 10-1 run though, featuring a lone loss to Villanova along the way. After losses to Kansas State, Arizona, Baylor and Kansas, the Bearcats took out Colorado and Arizona State ahead of losses to Texas Tech, BYU, Utah and West Virginia. Wins over UCF, BYU and Utah came next before losses to Iowa State and West Virginia. Since then, Cincinnati is 2-2 with wins over TCU and Baylor ahead of losses to Houston and Kansas State. That gives the Bearcats a 17-13 record over 30 games so far this season.

In the Kansas State home matchup on Wednesday, the Bearcats came out of the locker room with a 25-22 advantage. Cincinnati was outscored the rest of the way 32-24 however, leading to a listless 54-49 defeat in the end. Tops in scoring for the Bearcats during the loss was Day Day Thomas with 12 points, two rebounds, two steals and one assist. Jizzle James added 10 points with six rebounds and three assists as the only other team player to finish in double-figures. Aziz Bandaogo got close with nine points and seven rebounds though, and Dan Skillings led the bench scoring with seven points, two steals, three rebounds and one assist in 19 minutes of work on the floor during the defeat.

Oklahoma State Cowboys Betting Preview

Over on the Oklahoma State side, they’ve followed a similar trajectory in the record column this year. The Cowboys started out okay but haven’t been doing well since late December. Oklahoma State lost to only FAU, Nevada and Oklahoma in their first 11 games, then hit a 2-7 run with wins over Kansas State and Colorado amid losses to Houston, West Virginia, Utah, BYU, Arizona, Texas Tech and Kansas State. After a win over Utah, the Cowboys would fall to Houston, TCU and Texas Tech (with a win over Arizona State) in the next four. Since then it’s been a 2-3 run with wins over UCF and Iowa State amid losses to Kansas, Baylor and UCF. Over 30 games so far this year that gives the Cowboys a 14-16 record in the books.

Matched up against UCF on the road Wednesday, the Cowboys came out of halftime sporting a 40-35 advantage. Oklahoma State was outpaced 48-30 the rest of the way however, and ended up with a double-digit loss 83-70. Tops in scoring during the losing effort among the starters was Arturo Dean with 12 points, six rebounds, seven assists and four steals. Brandon Newman led the bench with 13 points, three rebounds, two assists and two steals in 31 minutes of work on the floor. Both About Ousmane (three rebounds; one steal) and Jamyron Keller (three rebounds; two assists) each chipped in 11 points as well.

Why the Oklahoma State Cowboys will win

• Oklahoma State has won 17 of its last 18 day games at Gallagher-Iba Arena against non-AP-ranked opponents.
• Cincinnati has lost five of its last six road games.
• Oklahoma State has won the first half in 25 of its last 26 day games at Gallagher-Iba Arena against non-AP-ranked opponents.

Why the Cincinnati Bearcats will win

• Cincinnati has won 16 of its last 19 day games against non-AP-ranked opponents.
• Oklahoma State has lost 19 of its last 25 games against the Big 12 Conference.
• Cincinnati has won the first half in four of its last five games against non-AP-ranked opponents.

Oklahoma State vs Cincinnati Prediction

I’m going to stick with Oklahoma State. The Cowboys had a bad second half in their latest road loss to UCF, eventually shooting just 37.9 percent from the field with an ugly 50-26 deficit on the boards. Oklahoma State did well from the line though (86.7 percent on 13-of-15) and scored 25 points off a whopping 19 UCF turnovers. That makes three losses in the last four games for Oklahoma State, but it’s worth noting that those defeats all came on the road. The Cowboys have won their last two home games—one against a very good Iowa State team.

Cincinnati should put up a good fight here if they can get their offense going. That said, I like Oklahoma State to stand tall and power one out at home.