UC Riverside vs St. Thomas – Minnesota Prediction 12/20/2025 Today’s College Basketball Picks

The UC Riverside Highlanders and the St. Thomas-MN Tommies meet Saturday in college basketball action from Schoenecker Arena in Saint Paul. Here’s a UC Riverside vs St. Thomas-MN prediction. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best UC Riverside vs St. Thomas-MN pick. We will examine the recent form and player performances for both teams, as well as the recent betting trends and streaks pertaining to this matchup. As we conclude, we will tie it all together with a summary that produces a sensible pick for a favorable betting outcome in this game.

UC Riverside Highlanders Betting Preview

The Highlanders went 4-3 in their first seven outings this year. Those wins were over La Sierra, North Dakota, San Diego and Grambling with losses otherwise versus New Mexico, North Dakota and Cal Baptist. UC Riverside has since gone just 2-3 with wins over only Cal Poly and Stanton. Otherwise it’s been losses to Utah Tech, UC Irvine and BYU, giving the Highlanders a 6-6 overall run across 12 games this year.

In the Stanton matchup on Tuesday, the Highlanders were ahead 45-31 at the break. UC Riverside finished off the game with 50 more points and posted a 95-70 win in the end. Andrew Henderson topped the team in scoring with 26 points and three rebounds, while Osiris Grady doubled up on 19 points with 18 rebounds and three assists. De’Undrae Perteete added 18 points and six boards as well.

St. Thomas-MN Tommies Betting Preview

Over on the Tommies’ side, they started the year on a 4-3 run with wins over Army, Green Bay, Southeast Missouri State and Northern Colorado in that time. St. Thomas-Minnesota has since gone 5-1 with a lone loss to Montana State. Otherwise it’s been wins over Portland, Lawrence University, Weber State, Saint John’s MN and UNC Asheville. The Tommies have a 9-4 record across 13 games so far.

In the UNC Asheville game last weekend, the Tommies entered the second half with a 46-25 edge. St. Thomas-MN kept the pace from there on 34 more points in an 80-59 blowout win. Nolan Minessale led the way on 23 points with four assists and three rebounds and Nick Janowski had 16 points. Carter Bjerke chipped in 12 points with three rebounds in the win.

UC Riverside Highlanders @ St. Thomas Tommies Betting Trends: December 20, 2025

Why the St. Thomas Tommies will win

• St. Thomas (MN) has won each of its last nine home games following a road win.
• UC Riverside has lost 17 of its last 21 road games against non-Conference opponents.
• UC Riverside has lost the first half in six of its last seven games against non-Conference opponents.

UC Riverside vs St. Thomas-MN Prediction

I’ll stay with the Tommies. St. Thomas-MN didn’t have too many issues versus UNC Asheville in their last game, hitting 50.9 percent from the field with 31 rebounds and just eight turnovers. The foul shooting (13-of-24 for 54.2 percent) wasn’t very good, though. The Tommies are scoring great in this three-game win streak with 80 or more points in each of those outings. St. Thomas-MN has 71 or more points in all but one game this season, in fact (58 versus Saint Mary’s in the opener loss).

As for UC Riverside, they handled Stanton pretty easily on 52.5 percent shooting, 39 rebounds, 17 team assists and just seven turnovers. The Highlanders have scored fewer than 70 points in all three losses during this 2-3 run, but to be fair they’ve played a couple of tricky teams on the road in that time.

Andrew Jett's Pick: St. Thomas MN Tommies -13.5