San Francisco vs St. Mary’s Prediction 2/6/25 College Basketball Picks Today

The Saint Mary’s Gaels and the San Francisco Dons meet Thursday in college basketball action from War Memorial Gym. Here’s a San Francisco vs Saint Mary’s prediction. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best San Francisco vs Saint Mary’s pick.

Saint Mary’s Gaels Betting Preview

The Gaels have been a pretty sharp team this year. They’re sitting on a nice win streak right now and have yet to lose consecutive games. Saint Mary’s took out Towson, Chattanooga, Akron, Nebraska, Stanislaus State, Cal Poly and USC in their first seven games, then lost to Arizona State. A 3-2 run came next with losses to Boise State and Utah State among wins over UTSA, Utah and Merrimack, then another win streak. Those victories have come versus Pacific, Pepperdine, Portland, Loyola Marymount, San Diego, Pepperdine again, San Francisco, Washington State, Santa Clara and Gonzaga in succession. The result so far has been a nice 20-3 overall record for the Gaels through the first 23 games of the season.

In the Gonzaga matchup over the weekend, the Gaels were up 36-28 by halftime. Saint Mary’s hit a 30-26 deficit the rest of the way but held on for a 62-58 win in the end. Leading the team in scoring was Mikey Lewis, who came off the bench for 16 points, one rebound and one assist in 22 minutes of action. Paulius Murauskas added 12 points with eight rebounds and Jordan Ross had 10 points with four rebounds and three assists in 25 minutes. Mitchell Saxen chipped in nine points with 11 rebounds in 31 minutes of work on the floor as well.

San Francisco Dons Betting Preview

Over on the San Francisco side, they’ve similarly been quite consistent this year. The Dons have only lost consecutive games once so far themselves. San Francisco beat Cal Poly, Boise State, Long Beach State and Chicago State ahead of losses to Memphis and Clemson. The next 10 games were a 9-1 run with a lone loss to Bradley amid wins over Fordham, Mercyhurst, Saint Louis, Stanislaus State, Loyola Chicago, Montana, Loyola Marymount, Santa Clara and Pacific. Since then it’s been a fairly choppy 5-3 run with losses to Washington State, Santa Clara and Saint Mary’s among wins over Portland, Pepperdine, Oregon State, San Diego and Washington State, giving the Dons an 18-6 record through their first 24 games this year.

In the Washington State game back on Saturday, the Dons were in the locker room with a 38-26 advantage. San Francisco kept it up in the second half with a 37-25 run and took the eventual victory 75-51 in the end. Marcus Williams led the way with 17 points, six boards, seven assists and three steals. Junjie Wang put up 16 points and five rebounds in 29 minutes, and Ryan Beasley had 14 points with six rebounds and four assists. Jason Rivera-Torres added nine points with nine rebounds in 16 minutes of work off the bench as well.

Why the San Francisco Dons will win

• San Francisco has won each of its last 18 games at War Memorial at the Sobrato Center.
• San Francisco has won the first half in seven of its last eight games against the West Coast Conference.

Why the Saint Mary’s Gaels will win

• Saint Mary’s has won each of its last 13 road games against the West Coast Conference.
• Saint Mary’s has won the first half in each of its last 10 night games against the West Coast Conference.

San Francisco vs Saint Mary’s Prediction

I’m going to stay with Saint Mary’s. You could make a case either way here, though; we should have a pretty great matchup in store if both teams play well. The Gaels weren’t at their best in the Gonzaga win though, shooting a measly 38.2 percent from the field and an ugly 50 percent (11-of-22) from the line. Saint Mary’s preserved the home win with a 40-34 rebounding edge and a strong first half, however. The Gaels have been below 68 points in consecutive games now, following 70 or more in eight straight victories prior to that.

The last time these teams met up back on January 23, the Gaels powered out a 71-51 win at home. Saint Mary’s shot very well in that one (61.5 percent) and the Dons didn’t (26.9 percent). The 37-25 rebounding edge in favor of the Gaels really helped as well, not to mention the 19-9 advantage on team assists. San Francisco should do better in the home rematch, but I like Saint Mary’s to power it out—provided the Gaels can get that shooting percentage up.