Loyola Chicago vs Massachusetts Prediction 3/8/25 College Basketball Picks

The Loyola Chicago Ramblers and the UMass Minutemen meet Saturday in college basketball action from the Mullins Center. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best bets for this game. Here’s a Loyola Chicago vs. UMass prediction.

Matchup History

These two teams have not met this season, and have met just twice since Loyola-Chicago joined the A-10 a couple of seasons ago, with Loyola-Chicago going 2-0 in the two meetings thanks to a 79-78 win in last year’s meeting at home on January 17th, 2024.

Loyola Chicago Recap

The Loyola Chicago Ramblers come into this game looking to add on to their 82-72 win over Davidson last time out to improve to 20-10 on the year.

Ramblers Looking To Stay Hot

Jayden Dawson leads the Ramblers in scoring with 13.4 PPG along with 3 RPG while Des Watson has 12.6 PPG along with 3.6 RPG and a team-high 2.6 APG to lead the Ramblers in the assist department this season. Sheldon Edwards Jr. has 12.2 PPG with 3.5 RPG to cap off the trio of double-digit scorers for Loyola-Chicago up to this point in the year. Jalen Quinn has 7.5 PPG with 2.3 APG while Miles Rubin has 9.3 PPG and 5.1 RPG. Francis Nwaokorie also has a team-high 5.1 RPG to share the team lead for the Ramblers on the glass so far this season. As a team, Loyola-Chicago is averaging 74.2 PPG on 46.4% shooting from the field, 36% from three, and 66.6% from the foul line this season.

Why the Loyola Ramblers will win

• Loyola (IL) has won six of its last seven games.
• Massachusetts has lost five of its last six games.

UMass Recap

The UMass Minutemen come into this game looking to bounce back from a 73-72 loss at the hands of St. Bonaventure to sit at 12-18 on the year.

Minutemen Drop 5 Of Last 6

Rahsool Diggins leads the Minutemen in scoring with 17.2 PPG along with 2.8 RPG and 2.7 APG while Jaylen Curry has 13.3 PPG with 3.8 RPG and a team-high 4 APG to lead the Minutemen in the assist department so far this season. Daniel Rivera has 11.5 PPG with a team-high 7.3 RPG to lead UMass on the glass and to cap off the trio of double-digit scorers for UMass so far this season. Daniel Hankins-Sanford also has 9.5 PPG with 7.2 RPG as well on the year for the Minutemen. As a team, UMass is averaging 73.7 PPG on 41.6% shooting from the field, 28.7% from three, and 66.3% from the foul line this season.

Why the Massachusetts Minutemen will win

• Loyola (IL) has lost seven of its last eight day games.
• The home team has won 13 of Loyola (IL)’s last 15 games.

Loyola Chicago vs. UMass Prediction

I’m on Loyola Chicago here. I get the case to be made for the Minutemen as home dogs here, but I just think that in the end, Loyola Chicago is the better team here with a lot more scoring depth side-by-side in this game. UMass has been a lot more competitive at home, but there have also been spots where the Minutemen have just been steamrolled when taking the step up in class and I think this could be another one of those spots here. Give me Loyola-Chicago in this one.

Chris Ruffolo's Pick: Loyola-Chicago -2.5