UTEP vs Liberty Prediction 1/16/25 College Basketball Picks

The UTEP Miners and the Liberty Flames meet Thursday in college basketball action from Liberty Arena. Here’s a UTEP vs Liberty prediction. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best UTEP vs Liberty pick. We will examine:

The UTEP Miners’ recent form and player performance

The Liberty Flames’ recent form and player performance

Recent betting trends and streaks involving the UTEP Miners

Recent betting trends and streaks involving the Liberty Flames

Recent betting trends in games played between UTEP and Liberty

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

UTEP Miners Betting Preview

UTEP has had quite a consistent year so far; they’re yet to lose consecutive outings and have a couple of nice stretches of wins. The Miners kicked things off on a bit of a shaky run, losing two of their first five to San Jose State and Utah Valley among wins over Sul Ross State, UT Permian Basin, and UC Santa Barbara. Since then it’s been a solid 8-2 stretch over the last 10 outings. The two losses came versus Louisville and New Mexico State. Otherwise, it was victories over Long Beach State, UNC Greensboro, Seattle U, Tarleton State, Jackson State, Yale, Northern New Mexico, Louisiana Tech, and Sam Houston for a 12-4 overall record so far.

In the New Mexico State over the weekend, the Miners hit a 38-25 opening run. UTEP posted a 47-32 deficit the rest of the way in an eventual blowout loss 85-57. Tops in scoring was David Terrell with 17 points, five assists, and two rebounds. The only other player on the team to finish in double-figures was Otis Frazier with 13 points, five boards, and four blocks. Trey Horton led the bench players with his five points, one rebound, one steal, and one assist in 12 minutes.

Liberty Flames Betting Preview

Over on the Liberty side, they came out of the gate with a flourish this year, but things have been shaky over the last quartet of outings. The Flames opened on a 12-1 overall run, losing to only Florida Atlantic. The wins otherwise came versus Valparaiso, Seattle U, Carolina University, Charleston, Louisiana, Kansas State, McNeese State, Central Penn, MS Valley State, North Carolina A&T, St. Andrews, and Texas Arlington. Since then it’s been a 2-2 record, however. Liberty has losses to Western Kentucky and Louisiana Tech sandwiched around wins versus Middle Tennessee and Sam Houston in that time for a 14-3 overall record this season.

Matched up against Louisiana Tech last weekend, the Flames came out of the locker room holding a solid 34-27 edge. Louisiana lost the handle in the second half however, getting outscored 52-40 the rest of the way in a tough loss 79-74. Taelon Peter came off the bench to lead the way on 33 points, four rebounds, and a steal in 32 minutes of work. Jayvon Maughmer led the starters with 13 points and six rebounds, while Zach Cleveland added 11 points.

Why the Liberty Flames will win

• Liberty has won 28 of its last 31 night games at Liberty Arena (Lynchburg) against non-AP-ranked opponents.

Why the UTEP Miners will win

• UTEP has won six of its last seven night games.

UTEP vs Liberty Prediction

I’ll stick with Liberty. This should be a pretty fun matchup regardless, though. Liberty played pretty well overall (outside of some shaky numbers from 3-point range and the line) in their latest loss to a pretty good Louisiana Tech team. That said, the Flames were blitzed on the boards with a 44-23 deficit (10-3 offensive). The good news is that Liberty has scored well lately, notching 70 or more points in nine straight games (a 7-2 run).

As for UTEP, they’re coming off a demoralizing blowout loss versus New Mexico State, shooting just 36 percent from the field with 13 turnovers and a 40-21 rebounding disadvantage. The Miners had scored 70 or more points in four straight prior to that, however, so it wouldn’t be surprising to see a high overall total in this one.