Louisville vs SMU Prediction 1/21/25 College Basketball Picks

The Louisville Cardinals and the SMU Mustangs meet Tuesday in college basketball action from SMU Moody Coliseum. Here’s a Louisville vs SMU prediction. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best Louisville vs SMU pick. We will examine:

The Louisville Cardinals’ recent form and player performance

The SMU Mustangs’ recent form and player performance

Recent betting trends and streaks involving the Louisville Cardinals

Recent betting trends and streaks involving the SMU Mustangs

Recent betting trends in games played between Louisville and SMU

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

Louisville Cardinals Betting Preview

The Cardinals had one rough stretch of games during early December, but otherwise, they’ve been a model of consistency this year so far. Louisville opened on a 5-1 run with wins over Morehead State, Bellarmine, Winthrop, Indiana, and West Virginia alongside a loss to Tennessee. A 1-4 run came next with a lone win over UTEP amid losses to Oklahoma, Ole Miss, Duke, and Kentucky. Since then Louisville has hit a nice eight-game win streak, taking out Florida State, Eastern Kentucky, North Carolina, Virginia, Clemson, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, and Virginia in succession during that time for a 14-5 overall record through 19 games this year.

In the Virginia game on Saturday, Louisville entered the second half with a 39-28 advantage. The Cardinals kept the heat on from there with a 42-39 stretch and won the game 81-67 in the end. Leading the team in scoring was Reyne Smith with 19 points and four rebounds. James Scott doubled up with 12 points and 10 boards, while Terrence Edwards added 16 points with six rebounds. J’Vonne Hadley was also in double-digits there with 13 points and three boards.

SMU Mustangs Betting Preview

Over on the Mustangs’ side, they entered the 2024-25 season with two losses in their first six games. SMU has only lost twice since late November, though. The initial defeats came versus Butler and Mississippi State among wins over Tarleton State, Florida A&M, UNC Greensboro, and Prairie View A&M. SMU beat Cal Baptist, Washington State, Alabama State, Virginia, LSU, Boston College, and Longwood in the next seven outings, then fell in consecutive games to Duke and North Carolina. Since then the Mustangs have three straight wins in the bag, taking out Georgia Tech, Virginia, and Miami for a 14-4 overall record so far this year.

Matched up against Miami over the weekend, the Mustangs didn’t have too many issues. SMU held a 60-26 edge by halftime and cruised from there on 57 more points for a 117-74 win in the end. Boopie Miller led the team on a double-double with 18 points and 10 assists, while Matt Cross added 17 points with six rebounds and four assists. Samet Yigitoglu put up 15 points with five rebounds and two assists in 23 minutes of work on the court as well.

Why the SMU Mustangs will win

• SMU has won 10 of its last 11 games against non-AP-ranked opponents.
• Louisville has lost 24 of its last 32 night games against Conference opponents.
• Louisville has lost the first half in 10 of its last 12 road night games against Conference opponents.

Why the Louisville Cardinals will win

• Louisville has won each of its last eight games.

Louisville vs SMU Prediction

I’ll lean toward SMU. This should be a pretty great matchup though, and one of the highlights of the Tuesday college basketball slate. The Mustangs drilled a struggling Miami team with 69.2 percent shooting from the field, 56 percent from 3-point range, and a 36-18 rebounding advantage during their latest win. SMU also scored a nice 20 points off 12 Miami turnovers. The 117 points were a nice total after the Mustangs managed fewer than 68 in three of their previous four games as well.

As for Louisville, they didn’t have too many issues with a middling Virginia team either, notching 20 points off 15 Cavs turnovers in that one. The Cardinals have posted 70 or more points in 10 straight games (a 9-1 run), so SMU is really going to have to hit the gas on the scoreboard in order to keep the pace here. I like the Mustangs to pull it off at home. Should be a good one.