Valparaiso vs UIC Prediction 3/6/25 College Basketball Picks

The Valparaiso Beacons and the UIC Flames meet Thursday in college basketball action from the Credit Union 1 Arena. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best bets for this game. Here’s a Valparaiso vs. UIC prediction.

Matchup History

The UIC Flames won both meetings in the regular season, first at Valpo by a final score of 81-74 back on January 18th, 2025 before completing the sweep at home with a 77-73 win on March 2nd, 2025.

Valparaiso Recap

The Valparaiso Beacons come into the conference tournament as the 11-seed, finishing with a 13-18 overall record including a 6-14 mark in MVC conference play.

Beacons Looking To Spring Upset In Opening Round

Cooper Schwieger leads the Beacons in scoring and rebounding with 15.5 PPG and 7.6 RPG while Jefferson De La Cruz Monegro has 10.4 PPG with 1.6 APG. Tyler Schmidt has 10.4 PPG and 3.1 RPG and All Wright has 14.5 PPG and 2.4 APG to round out the group of double-digit scorers for Valparaiso so far this season. Darius DeAveiro has a team-high 2.8 APG to lead the Beacons in assists while Kaspar Sepp also has 5.9 RPG as well this season. As a team, Valparaiso is averaging 75.6 PPG on 42.9% shooting from the field, 33.2% from three and 78.9% from the foul line this season.

Why the Valparaiso Beacons will win

• UIC has lost each of its last four night games.

UIC Recap

The UIC Flames come into the conference tournament as the 6-seed, finishing the year with an overall record of 17-13 on the year, including a 10-10 mark in MVC conference play.

Flames Looking To Complete Three-Game Sweep Of Valpo

Javon Jackson leads the Flames in scoring with 11.8 PPG along with 2.7 APG and 1.6 SPG while Sasa Ciani has 10 PPG with a team-high 7.7 RPG to lead the Flames on the glass so far this season. Ahmad Henderson II has 11.7 PPG with 2.7 RPG and 2.6 APG while Tyem Freeman’s added 10.6 PPG with 4.2 RPG. Jordan Mason’s added 10 PPG with 3.4 RPG and a team-high 3.4 APG to lead the Flames in assists and to cap off the scoring in double figures for UIC so far this season. Filip Skobalj has 8.5 PPG with 2.9 RPG while Modestas Kancleris also has 8.3 PPG with 6.8 RPG as well on the year. As a team, UIC is averaging 76.9 PPG on 46% shooting from the field, 35.2% from three and 72.2% from the foul line this season.

Why the UIC Flames will win

• Valparaiso has lost five of its last six games at Enterprise Center.
• UIC has won four of its last five games against Valparaiso.

Valparaiso vs. UIC Prediction

I’m on Valparaiso and the points here. We just saw this matchup in the regular season finale and it was a 4-point win for UIC but a cover for Valpo. Who knows if UIC was just trying to keep some stuff close to the vest, knowing that this was their first round matchup, but either way, Valpo has been competitive in both meetings this season and UIC finished the year on an 0-9 ATS slide. I think with their season hanging in the balance, we get a complete effort from Valpo to at least compete here if not win outright. Give me Valparaiso and the points.

Chris Ruffolo's Pick: Valparaiso +3.5