Who's Playing

South Dakota Coyotes @ Santa Clara Broncos

Current Records: South Dakota 9-5, Santa Clara 7-5

How To Watch

What to Know

Coyotes fans better hope the squad plays one heck of a game on Saturday as the odds are decidedly against them. They are taking a road trip to face off against the Santa Clara Broncos at 5:00 p.m. ET at Leavey Center. One thing working in the Coyotes' favor is that they have posted at least 82 points in their last five contests.

South Dakota is headed into Saturday's matchup after beating the impressive 163.5-point over/under the oddsmakers set for their last match against Utah Tech. South Dakota took a 92-87 hit to the loss column at the hands of Utah Tech on Thursday. The Coyotes didn't live up to their potential and found themselves falling short of the advantage oddsmakers thought they had coming into the game.

South Dakota struggled to work together and finished the game with only seven assists. They were dismantled by their opponents in that department as Utah Tech posted 21.

Meanwhile, Santa Clara had already won three in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 10.7 points) and they went ahead and made it four on Wednesday. Everything went their way against the Owls as they made off with a 94-74 victory.

Among those leading the charge was Adama-Alpha Bal, who went 6 for 11 from beyond the arc en route to 27 points. That's the most threes he has posted since back in February. The team also got some help courtesy of Tyeree Bryan, who earned 14 points plus two steals.

South Dakota's defeat was their fourth straight on the road, which dropped their record down to 9-5. As for Santa Clara, they are on a roll lately: they've won five of their last six games, which provided a nice bump to their 7-5 record this season.

Rebounding is likely to be a big factor in this contest: South Dakota has crashing the boards this season, having averaged 37.4 rebounds per game. However, it's not like Santa Clara struggles in that department as they've been averaging 38.3. With both teams battling to corral missed shots, we'll see if one team can grab an edge.

While only Santa Clara took care of their fans the last time they played, neither team managed to cover. Looking ahead, Santa Clara is the favorite in this one, as the experts expect to see them win by 18 points. This contest will be their fourth straight as the favorites (so far over this stretch they are 2-1 against the spread).

Odds

Santa Clara is a big 18-point favorite against South Dakota, according to the latest college basketball odds.

The oddsmakers had a good feel for the line for this one, as the game opened with the Broncos as a 17-point favorite.


The oddsmakers are expecting fireworks from the offense and set the over/under at a high 168.5 points.

See college basketball picks for every single game, including this one, from SportsLine's advanced computer model. Get picks now.