Pacific vs Santa Clara 1/14/23 College Basketball Picks, Predictions, Odds

The Santa Clara Broncos and the Pacific Tigers meet in college basketball action from the Alex G. Spanos Center on Saturday night.

The Santa Clara Broncos will look to find some consistency after alternating wins and losses in each of their last four games after an 81-76 loss to Gonzaga last time out. Brandin Podziemski leads the Broncos in scoring, assists and rebounding with 18.7 PPG, 3.5 APG and 8.5 RPG while Carlos Stewart has 14.6 PPG and Keshawn Justice has 12.5 PPG with 4.2 RPG and 3.1 APG as well to cap off the group of double-digit scorers for Santa Clara so far this season. As a team, Santa Clara is averaging 74.3 PPG on 43.6% shooting from the field, 35.2% from three and 72.7% from the foul line this season.

The Pacific Tigers will try to build on their three-game win streak after an 80-75 win over Pepperdine last time out. Keylan Boone has 12.5 PPG with 4.7 RPG in his 13 games so far this year while Tyler Beard has 10.2 PPG and a team-high 2.9 APG to lead Pacific in the assist department this season. Luke Avdalovic has 10.4 PPG to finish off the scoring in double figures for Pacific up to this point in the year. As a team, Pacific is averaging 74.9 PPG on 45.2% shooting from the field, 38.7% from three and 69.3% from the foul line this season.

Santa Clara is 5-0 ATS in their last 5 games overall and 5-0 ATS in their last 5 games against a team with a winning record while the under is 4-0 in their last 4 Saturday games. Pacific is 2-9 ATS in their last 11 home games and 1-7 ATS in their last 8 home games against a team with a losing road record while the over is 7-0 in their last 7 games following an ATS win.

I get the case to be made for either side here, but I’m backing Santa Clara in this one. As tempting as a home underdog is, Pacific hasn’t been very good ATS at home this season. Santa Clara for me has sneaky potential to be a top-4 team in the WCC this season. Give me the Broncos laying the points here.