Utah Valley vs North Dakota State Prediction College Basketball Picks 11/28/24

The North Dakota State Bison and the Utah Valley Wolverines meet Thursday in college basketball action from the Pete Hanna Center. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best bets for this game. Here’s a North Dakota State vs. Utah Valley prediction.

North Dakota State Recap

The North Dakota State Bison come into this one looking to build on a 73-61 win over West Georgia last time out to improve to 4-4 on the year. North Dakota State will take on Weber State, Northern Colorado, and Butler after this one.

Bison Looking For Consistency Sitting At .500

Jacari White leads the Bison in scoring with 18 PPG along with 4.5 RPG while Jacksen Moni has 11.2 PPG with a team-high 6 RPG and 4 APG as the lone pair of double-digit scorers for NDSU so far this season. Noah Feddersen has 9.5 PPG with 6 RPG and 2.3 APG while Masen Miller has 9.5 PPG. Brennan Watkins also has 3 APG as well on the year for the Bison. As a team, North Dakota State is averaging 76.9 PPG on 44.7% shooting from the field, 37.8% from three, and 71.8% from the foul line this season.

Utah Valley Recap

The Utah Valley Wolverines come into this one looking to bounce back from an 84-76 loss at the hands of Samford last time out to fall to 4-2 on the year.

Wolverines Looking To Bounce Back

Dominick Nelson leads the Wolverines in scoring with 15.3 PPG and 7.2 RPG while Carter Weiling has 14.8 PPG with a team-high 7.6 RPG to lead Utah Valley on the glass. Tanner Toolson has 11.5 PPG with 4.3 RPG and Ethan Potter has 10.5 PPG with 4.8 RPG to round out the group of double-digit scorers for Utah Valley so far this season. Trevan Leonhardt has a team-high 5.3 APG to lead the Wolverines in assists as well as a team-high 2.2 SPG. As a team, Utah Valley is averaging 80.3 PPG on 50.1% shooting from the field, 33.3% from three, and 68.1% from the foul line this season.

Why the Utah Valley Wolverines will win

• Utah Valley has won eight of its last nine day games played at neutral venues.
• North Dakota State has lost eight of its last nine day games against non-conference opponents.

North Dakota State vs. Utah Valley Prediction

I’m on the over here. The Bison shoot their threes at the highest rate in the entire country, and not only are they a volume shooting team from outside, but the shots are falling as NDSU is shooting at a top-60 rate from 3-point range while Utah Valley is below average in 3-point defense. Utah Valley relies on two-pointers for the bulk of their scoring and they’re going up against a North Dakota State team that doesn’t force turnovers and gives up the most amount of points via two-pointers in the entire country. I think the weakness on both sides defensively will be exploited here and the over will come in in the end.

Chris Ruffolo's Pick: Over 145