Baylor vs BYU Prediction 1/28/25 College Basketball Picks

The Baylor Bears and the BYU Cougars meet Tuesday in college basketball action from Marriott Center. Here’s a Baylor vs BYU prediction. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best Baylor vs BYU pick. We will examine:

The Baylor Bears’ recent form and player performance

The BYU Cougars’ recent form and player performance

Recent betting trends and streaks involving the Baylor Bears

Recent betting trends and streaks involving the BYU Cougars

Recent betting trends in games played between Baylor and BYU

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

Baylor Bears Betting Preview

So far this year the Bears have put down a couple of rough stretches, but other than that they’re doing a nice job record-wise overall. Baylor opened on a 4-1 stretch with wins over Arkansas, Sam Houston, Tarleton State, and St. John’s, then hit a 1-2 run with losses to Tennessee and UConn around a win versus New Orleans. A 6-1 record came in the next seven, featuring a loss to Iowa State among wins versus Abilene Christian, Norfolk State, Arlington Baptist, Utah, Cincinnati, and Arizona State. After consecutive losses to Arizona and TCU, Baylor bounced back with wins over Kansas State and Utah in the next pair. The result so far has been a 13-6 overall record through the first 19 outings of the 2024-25 season.

In the Utah matchup over the weekend, Baylor came out of the first half with a 38-31 advantage. The Bears maintained their pace in the second on a near-identical 38-30 run and took the eventual win 76-61 in the end. Leading team scorer Norchad Omier doubled up on 22 points and 12 boards, while VJ Edgecombe had 21 points with six rebounds and three assists.

BYU Cougars Betting Preview

Over on the Cougars’ side, they got off to a great start over their first 12 games, then hit the skids earlier this month. BYU managed to win 10 of their first dozen games, falling to only Ole Miss and Providence in that time. Otherwise, it was wins over Central Arkansas, UC Riverside, Queens U, Idaho, MS Valley State, NC State, Fresno State, Wyoming, Florida A&M, and Arizona State. The Cougars hit a 1-4 run after that featuring a win over Oklahoma State among losses to Houston, Texas Tech, TCU, and Utah. Since then it’s been consecutive wins over Colorado and Cincinnati for a 13-6 record through the first 19 games of their campaign.

Matched up against Cincinnati on Saturday, the Cougars were ahead 28-23 by halftime. BYU surged in the second half 52-29 though, eventually securing an 80-52 victory in the end. Leading the team in scoring was Richie Saunders with 21 points and five rebounds. Egor Demin added 15 points with seven assists and five rebounds in 25 minutes of work as well.

Why the BYU Cougars will win

• BYU has won 15 of its last 16 games at Marriott Center against non-AP-ranked opponents.

Why the Baylor Bears will win

• Baylor has won 11 of its last 13 games against non-AP-ranked opponents.

Baylor vs BYU Prediction

I’m going to try BYU here. The Cougars didn’t have a ton of difficulty versus a decent Cincinnati team in their last outing, shooting a nice 57.1 percent from the field with a 34-28 rebounding edge. The 14 turnovers (for 19 Bearcats points) were just about the only blemish. BYU is looking much better over their last four games (a 3-1 record) with 80 or more points in all three wins.

The Cougars’ last three losses have each come by five points or fewer. The only blowouts BYU has experienced so far came on the road versus Houston (86-55) and Providence (83-64). Otherwise, things have been tight (in regulation anyway—the Ole Miss loss was by 11 in OT.) If the Cougars’ strong play at home holds here, I think they’ll be able to fend off a strong Baylor squad for a cover. Should be a pretty fun game to watch regardless of the outcome, though.