(5) Saint Mary's vs. (12) Grand Canyon: Betting Tips, Prediction, and Betting Odds

Grand Canyon is a school that has already recorded 29 wins this year. They will face off against a five seed in St. Mary’s who finished in the AP Poll as the No. 15 team in the nation. It should be a tough matchup but this one is close on the spread at 5.5 points.

St. Mary’s was a surprise this season as they were the best team in the WCC for the majority of the season. This hasn’t been the case the past handful of years as Gonzaga has dominated the conference for a long while now. Gonzaga was still good but St. Mary’s beat them twice including in the conference championship game. After a rough start to the season beginning 3-5, they turned it around to be one of the hottest teams in the country, only losing two games after that.

Grand Canyon was dominant all season but didn’t have a super tough schedule. They lost to South Carolina but beat a ranked San Diego State team who St. Mary’s lost against. Those were their two toughest games as they didn’t have much trouble with anyone else. That includes going on a run at the end of the year to win five games in a row on their way to a WAC Championship.

Grand Canyon +5.5 is available at the time of publishing. Playable at that number.

I’m not sure that I believe that St. Mary’s is a legit contender this season. St. Mary’s dominated a conference that Gonzaga usually handles but Gonzaga doesn’t have the same kind of talent this season that we are accustomed to seeing. It was a struggle for St. Mary’s in non-conference play and where they racked up their wins was in WCC play that was a weak conference outside of them and Gonzaga. They lost just one conference game.

The reason for the pick here of Grand Canyon on the spread is that I believe that they are just as talented, if not more talented, than St. Mary’s but St. Mary’s had an easier conference schedule. Grand Canyon should make this a close game and could be a candidate to get an upset.

Over 131.5 Total Points is available at the time of publishing. Playable at that number.

Both of these teams are talented offensively. Grand Canyon averaged nearly 80 pints per game and St. Mary’s came in at 74.2 points per game. The main reason why this total is so low is because St. Mary’s has a top-ranked defense. They rank second in points allowed per game at under 59 but against some tougher non-conference opponents they allowed 79 to San Diego State and 78 to Utah.

With Grand Canyon averaging almost 80 points per game, I expect them to have a similar scoring output as Utah and San Diego State in this game that would push the total over 131.5 points. St. Mary’s will have to be the ones who keep up with them offensively.

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