Dayton vs UMass Prediction 2025/01/08 College Basketball Picks

The Dayton Flyers and the UMass Minutemen meet Wednesday in college basketball action from Mullins Center. Here’s a Dayton vs UMass prediction. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best Dayton vs UMass pick. We will examine:

The Dayton Flyers’ recent form and player performance

The UMass Minutemen’s recent form and player performance

Recent betting trends and streaks involving the Dayton Flyers

Recent betting trends and streaks involving the UMass Minutemen

Recent betting trends in games played between Dayton and UMass

A summary that ties it all together and produces a favorable betting outcome for the Dayton vs UMass game

Dayton Flyers Betting Preview

The Flyers opened up the season on a nice run, taking wins in each of their first five outings. Those victories came courtesy of St. Francis PA, Northwestern, Ball State, Capital, and New Mexico State. Dayton would take consecutive losses versus North Carolina and Iowa State in the next pair, then came another win streak. Those victories were over UConn, Western Michigan, Lehigh, Marquette, and UNLV. Since then it’s been a shaky 1-2 stretch for the Flyers with a win over La Salle in between losses to Cincinnati and George Washington.

Matched up against George Washington on Saturday, the Flyers came out of halftime with a 43-27 deficit. Dayton didn’t end up getting any closer than that on a 39-35 second half and lost 82-62 in the end. Leading the team in scoring was Nate Santos with 23 points and three rebounds, while Zed Key added 10 points with six boards and three blocks alongside two steals. Tops in scoring off the bench was Posh Alexander with eight points and two rebounds.

UMass Minutemen Betting Preview

Over on the UMass side, they got a win in their opener over New Hampshire in blowout fashion, then fell to West Virginia, Louisiana Tech, Hofstra, Temple, and Florida State. A 4-2 run came after that, as UMass fell versus Central Connecticut and UMass Lowell in between wins over Harvard, NJIT, Northeastern, and Massachusetts-Boston. Since then it’s been three straight losses for the Minutemen, however. They’ve fallen to Arizona State, Saint Joseph’s, and Richmond in succession during that time for a 5-10 record on the season so far.

In the Richmond game on Saturday, the Minutemen came out of halftime looking up at a 34-31 deficit on the scoreboard. UMass hit a 38-33 deficit the rest of the way and limped to the loss 72-64 in the end. Leading the team in scoring was Jaylen Curry with 18 points and eight rebounds. Rahsool Diggins added 16 points with one steal and one assist. Jayden Ndjigue put up 11 points with four rebounds and two steals in the losing effort as well.

Why the Massachusetts Minutemen will win

• Massachusetts has won each of its last four night games against Conference opponents.
• Dayton has lost four of its last five road games against non-AP-ranked opponents.
• Dayton has lost the first half in four of its last five games.

Why the Dayton Flyers will win

• Dayton has won each of its last seven night games against non-AP-ranked opponents.
• Massachusetts has lost four of its last five night games against non-AP-ranked opponents.
• Dayton has won the first half in each of its last three games at William D. Mullins Memorial Center against non-AP-ranked opponents.

Dayton vs UMass Prediction

I’ll lean toward Dayton. The Flyers do need a nice bounce-back effort here after getting drilled by George Washington in their last game, but this is a good spot to get it. Dayton shot just 35 percent from the field with 12 turnovers for 18 Revolutionaries points in that one, but did well on the boards with a 41-34 advantage and hit 80 percent of their free throw attempts. Dayton has been below 67 points in three of the last four games, however, they’re normally a much better scoring team than that and should post a nice total here.

As for UMass, they hit a tepid 41.7 percent from the field in their latest loss to Richmond, but the real blemish was the 17 turnovers for 22 Spiders points. The Minutemen have given up 72 or more points in four straight games (a 1-3 run) so Dayton should have plenty of scoring opportunities in this one. On offense, UMass has notched fewer than 65 points in two of the last three games (all losses). If the Flyers play well, they’ll cover easily.