UC Riverside vs BYU prediction, odds, pick for College Basketball

It’s time to continue our College Basketball odds series with a UC Riverside BYU prediction and pick. Find out how to watch UC Riverside BYU.

The BYU Cougars enter a new season with a new coach. Mark Pope took the open head coaching job at his alma mater, Kentucky, and is under pressure to prove that the Wildcats made the right choice in hiring him. BYU flourished under Pope but needed to make an abrupt hire when Pope took a dream job in Lexington. Kevin Young is the new man in charge in Provo, and it will be fascinating to see what he is able to do with BYU this season. In game one of the season, BYU won by 38 points, but it was playing a cupcake, Central Arkansas. This is not to discount what BYU did, but you’re just not going to learn a whole lot about a team when it mops up a low-grade opponent. UC Riverside should give us a better look at the Cougars and what they are capable of, also where they might have some weaknesses and points of vulnerability. That said, BYU is still expected to win this game easily. From a betting standpoint, the main theme or question of this game is if BYU is a team you can fully trust to bring the hammer as a heavy favorite, or will the reality of having a new head coach bring about a measure of uncertainty in the early stages of the season?

We have to see what kind of team UC Riverside is. The Highlanders lost by 15 points at Oregon, 91-76, in this game. Oregon is expected to be very good this season, so on the surface, it would seem that Riverside losing by 15 is a respectable showing. The Highlanders didn’t get crushed. They were outplayed, but that was not a game in which Oregon got up by 25 points and then stopped playing. It was more of the opposite: Oregon led by around 10 points for most of the night but played well at the end of each half to bump the final margin up to 15 points. UC Riverside knows, as it enters this game against BYU, that it is capable of playing good basketball for stretches of time. It needs to avoid that disastrous five-minute sequence in which it loses touch and allows an opponent to extend its working margin. Riverside was solid for 20 to 25 minutes against Oregon but did not hold it together for the full 40.

Here are the UC Riverside-BYU College Basketball Odds, courtesy of FanDuel 

College Basketball Odds: UC Riverside-BYU Odds

UC Riverside: +20.5 (-106)

Moneyline: +1600

BYU: -20.5 (-114)

Moneyline: -4500

Over: 152.5 (-114)

Under: 152.5 (-106)

How to Watch UC Riverside vs BYU

Time: 9 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. PT

TV: ESPN Plus

Stream: fuboTV (Free Trial)

Why UC Riverside Will Cover The Spread/Win

Riverside was not that bad for most of the Oregon game. The Highlanders were competitive with a good Oregon team which is expected to finish in the upper tier of the Big Ten. They just didn’t finish either of the two halves they played. With just a few more minutes of good basketball, UC Riverside can keep this game within 10 to 15 points and bring home a cover with the spread at 20.5 points.

Why BYU Will Cover The Spread/Win

BYU won by 38 in its opener at home. The Cougars certainly have the capacity to deliver another thumping and put a team away decisively.

Final UC Riverside-BYU Prediction & Pick

Our lean is to BYU, but we would like to study these teams before betting on them more in the early part of the season. Pass.

Final UC Riverside-BYU Prediction & Pick: BYU -20.5