Northern Colorado vs Sacramento State Prediction 2/13/25 College Basketball Picks

The Northern Colorado Bears and the Sacramento State Hornets meet Thursday in college basketball action from Hornet Gym. Here’s a Northern Colorado vs Sacramento State prediction. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best Northern Colorado vs Sacramento State pick. We will examine: 

The Northern Colorado Bears’ recent form and player performance

The Sacramento State Hornets’ recent form and player performance 

Recent betting trends and streaks involving the Northern Colorado Bears

Recent betting trends and streaks involving the Sacramento State Hornets

Recent betting trends in games played between Northern Colorado and Sacramento State

A summary that ties it all together and produces a favorable betting outcome for the Northern Colorado vs Sacramento State game

Northern Colorado Bears Betting Preview

Northern Colorado was on quite the choppy run near the beginning of the season, but they’ve been able to right the proverbial ship since early December. The Bears opened on a 6-5 record through their first 11 outings. The wins at that time were over Colorado College, Colorado Christian, South Dakota State, Cal Baptist, Prairie View, and Northern New Mexico. Since then Northern Colorado has just two losses, falling to Idaho and Montana. Otherwise, it’s been a string of wins over Air Force, Denver, Weber State, Idaho State, Montana State, Montana, Portland State, Sac State, Eastern Washington, Northern Arizona, Idaho State and Montana State. That gives the Bears an overall record of 18-7 over their first 25 games this year. 

In the Montana State matchup last weekend, the Bears came out of the break with a 30-28 edge. Northern Colorado kept the pressure on in the second half with a 43-38 run and took the win in the end 73-66. Tops in scoring was Quinn Denker who came off the bench for 17 points, two rebounds, and two steals. Both Jaron Rillie (12 points; 10 rebounds) and Brock Wisne (10 points; 11 rebounds) notched double-doubles in the victory as well. 

Sacramento State Hornets Betting Preview

Over on the Sac State side, they had one good three-game run coming into the new calendar year but have struggled mightily otherwise this season. The Hornets went 2-9 in their first 11 outings, falling to Fresno State, UC San Diego, Cal State Northridge, California, Mercyhurst, Denver, Omaha, UC Davis and Oregon State. After wins over Stanislaus State, Bethesda and Portland State, Sacramento State hit a 1-9 run. The lone win was over Idaho State. Otherwise, it was losses to Idaho, Eastern Washington, Northern Arizona, Northern Colorado, Weber State, Montana State, Montana, Eastern Washington, and Idaho again in that time. The result so far has been a rough 6-18 overall run through the first 24 games of the year for the Hornets. 

Matched up against Idaho on Saturday in their road rematch the Hornets came out of the locker room sporting a 47-39 edge. Sac State posted a 39-29 run the rest of the way and ended up falling 78-76 in the end, though. Chudi Dioramma came off the bench for 19 points and six boards. Julian Vaughns added 19 points with two assists in the loss as well. 

Why the Sacramento State Hornets will win

• The home team has won each of Sacramento State’s last four games.
• Northern Colorado has lost the first half in six of its last eight road games.

Why the Northern Colorado Bears will win

• Sacramento State has lost 10 of its last 11 night games against non-AP-ranked opponents.
• Northern Colorado has won each of its last four games against Sacramento State.
• Northern Colorado has won the first half in each of its last three night games against Sacramento State.

Northern Colorado vs Sacramento State Prediction 

I’ll stay with the Bears. Northern Colorado didn’t shoot well in their latest win over Montana State (40.4 percent), however, they controlled the game with a 43-36 rebounding edge and just six turnovers. The Bears are scoring well these days, with 73 or more points in four straight games (a 3-1 run). 

These teams last saw each other on January 18 in a 68-64 home win for the Bears. Northern Colorado didn’t shoot spectacularly (42.2 percent) in that one and had 13 turnovers for 12 Hornets points. There’s plenty to clean up in the road rematch (and I’d like to see a better shooting percentage this time), but Northern Colorado should still have a significant advantage.