UMass vs St. Bonaventure Prediction 3/5/25 College Basketball Picks

The UMass Minutemen and the St. Bonaventure Bonnies meet Wednesday in college basketball action from Reilly Center. Here’s a UMass vs St. Bonaventure prediction. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best UMass vs St. Bonaventure pick. We will examine: 

The UMass Minutemen’s recent form and player performance

The St. Bonaventure Bonnies’ recent form and player performance 

Recent betting trends and streaks involving the UMass Minutemen

Recent betting trends and streaks involving the St. Bonaventure Bonnies

Recent betting trends in games played between UMass and St. Bonaventure

A summary that ties it all together and produces a favorable betting outcome for the UMass vs St. Bonaventure game

UMass Minutemen Betting Preview

UMass has had a couple of decent runs this year but they’re still sitting far below the .500 mark overall. The Minutemen went just 5-7 over their first dozen outings, then took losses to Arizona State, Saint Joseph’s, and Richmond in succession. The next five games featured wins over Dayton, Fordham, La Salle, and George Washington, then came a 2-2 run with losses to Rhode Island and Saint Louis amid wins over Duquesne and La Salle. After four straight losses versus Davidson, St. Bonaventure, VCU, and George Washington, the Minutemen took a win over Rhode Island to improve to 12-17 overall on the year through 29 games. 

In the Rhode Island home rematch on Saturday, the Minutemen were trailing 56-47 after the first half. UMass woke up in the second on a 44-32 run though, and bagged the comeback win 91-88 in the end. Rahsool Diggins posted 29 points with six assists, three steals and two rebounds. Daniel Hankins-Sanford doubled up on 19 points with 12 rebounds and one steal, while Jaylen Curry put up 22 points with eight assists and four rebounds in 28 minutes. 

St. Bonaventure Bonnies Betting Preview

Over on the Bonnies’ side, they had a stellar start to the season but things have been very difficult since early January. St. Bonaventure lost to only Utah State in their first 15 games, then hit a 1-5 run that featured losses to Saint Louis, La Salle, Duquesne, George Mason, and VCU. Since then it’s been a 4-4 run with wins over Dayton, Fordham, UMass, and Duquesne. The losses otherwise were versus Loyola, George Washington, Rhode Island, and Saint Joseph’s. That gives the Bonnies a 19-10 record across 29 games this season so far. 

Matched up against Saint Joseph’s in a road game last Wednesday, the Bonnies held the pace on a 35-35 run in the first half. St. Bonaventure was outscored 40-29 the rest of the way however, resulting in a 75-64 loss in the end. Leading team scorer Melvin Council provided 18 points with eight rebounds and four assists. Lajae Jones put up 14 points with five rebounds and four steals, while Noel Brown had 13 points and eight rebounds. 

Why the St. Bonaventure Bonnies will win

• St. Bonaventure has won 13 of its last 14 games against Massachusetts.
• Massachusetts has lost each of its last six games at Reilly Center against non-AP-ranked opponents.
• St. Bonaventure has won the first half in 12 of its last 14 games at Reilly Center.

Why the Massachusetts Minutemen will win

• St. Bonaventure has lost five of its last six night games against the Atlantic 10 Conference.

UMass vs St. Bonaventure Prediction 

I’m going to lean toward Saint Bonaventure. The Bonnies have been pretty uneven lately and they’re coming off a bad second half versus St. Joseph’s. St. Bonaventure went just 2-of-12 (16.7 percent) from 3-point range in that one with a 41-31 rebounding deficit but did tally just five turnovers in the defeat. The Bonnies had won consecutive games prior to that, however, with a combined 143 points scored in that pair. 

In the February 15 meeting between these teams, the Bonnies secured a 73-59 road victory. St. Bonaventure played a solid game overall, hitting 48.1 percent from the field with a 37-31 rebounding advantage. Each team coughed up 15 turnovers though, so it was a pretty sloppy game overall. Provided the Bonnies can clean up their mistakes in the home rematch, they should be in control. That said, I wouldn’t be surprised to see UMass notch a much better effort here following their comeback win over Rhode Island. 

Andrew Jett's Pick: St. Bonaventure Bonnies -8.5