South Dakota vs UMKC Prediction College Basketball Picks 1/2/25

The South Dakota Coyotes and the Kansas City Roos meet Thursday in college basketball action from the Swinney Recreation Center. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best bets for this game. Here’s a South Dakota vs. Kansas City prediction.

South Dakota Recap

The South Dakota Coyotes come into this game looking to bounce back from a 98-81 loss to Santa Clara last time out to drop to 9-6 on the year. After this game, South Dakota will head home for a matchup with Denver.

Coyotes Lose Back-To-Back Games

Chase Forte leads the Coyotes in scoring and assists with 15.3 PPG and 3.5 APG along with 3.4 RPG while Isaac Burns has 13.3 PPG with 4.5 RPG. Kaleb Stewart has 12.1 PPG to round out the trio of double-digit scorers for South Dakota so far this season. Dre Bullock has 9.8 PPG with 3.2 RPG while Paul Bruns ha added 9.7 PPG with 4.3 RPG and Cameron Fens has 9.5 PPG with 5.3 RPG to lead the Coyotes in rebounding up to this point in the year. As a team, South Dakota is averaging 86.6 PPG on 46.4% shooting from the field, 32.3% from three and 69.8% from the foul line this season.

Kansas City Recap

The Kansas City Roos come into this one looking to add on to their 73-66 win over East Tennessee State to improve to 8-7 on the year. After this game, Kansas City will take on Oral Roberts at home.

Roos Win 4th In A Row

Jamar Brown leads the Roos in scoring and rebounding with 16.2 PPG and 6.6 RPG while Anderson Kopp has 12.7 PPG with 3.6 RPG and 2.5 APG as well this season. Jayson Petty has 12.7 PPG of his own along with 5.1 RPG to round out the group of double-digit scorers for Kansas City so far this season. Cameron Faas has 9.2 PPG with 3.6 RPG while Kasheem Grady II has 8.4 PPG and Davontae Hall has a team-high 3.8 APG to lead Kansas City in the assist department as well this season. As a team, Kansas City is averaging 77.2 PPG on 44.7% shooting from the field, 35.9% from behind the three-point line and 76.2% from the foul line this season.

Why the Kansas City Roos will win

• The home team has won each of South Dakota’s last nine games.
• South Dakota has lost each of its last five road games.

South Dakota vs. Kansas City Prediction

I’m on Kansas City at home here. I’m just not sold on South Dakota on the road this season where they’re 1-6 SU and have allowed 90+ points in all of their losses away from home this season. Kansas City’s won 4 straight with some decent wins over Wichita State and East Tennessee State in their last couple of outings and at home I think they can take advantage of South Dakota’s frailties on the defensive end of the floor. Give me Kansas City at home in this one.

Chris Ruffolo's Pick: Kansas City -3.5