New Orleans vs UT Rio Grande Valley Prediction 3/1/25 College Basketball Picks

The New Orleans Privateers and the UTRGV Vaqueros meet Saturday in college basketball action from the Stopher Gymnasium. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best bets for this game. Here’s a New Orleans vs. UTRGV prediction.

Matchup History

The UTRGV Vaqueros won the most recent meeting back on January 4th, 2025 in New Orleans by a final score of 76-64 in the first matchup between these two teams since 2018.

New Orleans Recap

The New Orleans Privateers come into this game looking to bounce back from a 73-71 loss at the hands of East Texas A&M last time out to sit at 4-25 on the year. After this game, New Orleans will close out the regular season with a road game against Texas A&M-CC.

Privateers Trying To Salvage Something From Remainder Of Season

James White leads the Privateers in scoring with 19.2 PPG along with 7 RPG while MJ Thomas has 11 PPG with a team-high 7.9 RPG to lead New Orleans in rebounding as the only other double-digit scorer for New Orleans up to this point in the year. Jah Short has 9.2 PPG with 4.5 RPG and 3.3 APG while Dae Dae hunter has 8.2 PPG. Jamond Vincent has 7.8 PPG with 3.5 RPG while JR Jacobs has dished out a team-high 4 APG as well on the year to lead the Privateers in the assist department this season. As a team, New Orleans is averaging 67.8 PPG on 41.3% shooting from the field, 30.7% from three and 66.6% from the foul line so far this season.

Why the New Orleans Privateers will win

• The road team has won each of New Orleans’ last four games.
• Texas–Rio Grande Valley has lost six of its last seven games.

UTRGV Recap

The UTRGV Vaqueros come into this game looking to bounce back from a 100-65 loss at the hands of McNeese last time out to slip to 14-15 on the year. After this game, UTRGV will finish the regular season with a matchup against SE Louisiana.

Vaqueros Drop Third Straight, 6 Of 7 & 8 Of 10

Hasan Abdul Hakim leads the Vaqueros in scoring with 13.3 PPG along with 6.8 RPG and 2.9 APG in 12 games played so far this season while Cliff Davis has 11.6 PPG with 4.5 RPG. K.T. Raimey has 10 PPG and DK Thorn’s added 12 PPG with 3.7 RPG. Howie Fleming Jr. has 11.9 PPG with a team-high 6.2 RPG and 2.3 APG to lead the Vaqueros on the glass and Trey Miller has 10.2 PPG with 2.7 RPG and a team-high 4.3 APG to lead the Vaqueros in the assist department and to cap off the group of double-digit scorers for UTRGV so far this season. As a team, UTRGV is averaging 76.3 PPG on 44.2% shooting from the field, 32.3% from behind the arc and 69.6% from the foul line this season.

Why the Texas-Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros will win

• New Orleans has lost each of its last 11 games.
• The home team has won seven of Texas–Rio Grande Valley’s last eight games.

Total Points Facts

• Each of New Orleans’ last six games against Conference opponents have produced a total of 149 or fewer points.
• Four of Texas–Rio Grande Valley’s last five day games against the Southland Conference have produced a total of 156+ points.

New Orleans vs. UTRGV Prediction

I’m on UTRGV here. There’s nothing for New Orleans to do but play spoiler here, and I’m not sure that the Privateers even want to do that after a disappointing year finishing with being eliminated from postseason contention and a loss to East Texas A&M on top of that. UTRGV has to win out to have a chance at making the Southland tournament and I don’t think the Vaqueros want to leave anything to chance. We’ve seen New Orleans get blown out by worse and I think UTRGV shows up here. Give me the Vaqueros.