San Francisco at BYU 2/25/21 - College Basketball Picks & Predictions

The San Fransisco Dons will be looking to end a four-game losing streak when they travel on the road to the Mariott Center to take on the BYU Cougars. San Fransisco lost to St. Marys, then had a three-week COVID lay-off before losing to Pepperdine, Gonzaga, and Loyola Marymount at home dropping to 10-11 (4-7 conference). BYU has won back-to-back games, going on the road to beat Pacific and then a 88-71 win over BYU to improve to 15-5 (8-3 conference).

BYU, despite returning just 29% of their scoring from last season, has been a potent offensive unit averaging 79.2 points per game ranking 35th in scoring offense. They’re efficient in doing so shooting 48.4% from the field, 36.9% from beyond the arc and are 28th in effective field-goal percentage. That efficiency has negated the Cougars’ 240th adjusted tempo and they’re 29th in KenPom adjusted offense.

Senior guard Alex Barcello has been a huge piece in the last two years for BYU, he leads the team in scoring this year averaging 15.4 points on 52.7% shooting, and is dishing out 4.5 assists per game. And the addition of two transfers have picked up the rest of the slack, Utah Valley grad-transfer Brandon Averette is averaging 11.5 points and 3.6 assists, both second on the Cougars. Matt Haarms, the senior transfer from Purdue, is third on the team with 11.2 points and pulls down 4.3 rebounds per game.

San Fransisco is simply put, an average team in the WCC, they’re 6th in scoring offense averaging 68.2 points per game in conference play. They’re a team that is going to live and die by the three, attempting 30.5 threes per game -- the second most in the nation -- and make 34.6% of those attempts. The Dons have struggled as of late averaging just 63.7 points in their four-game losing streak.

The back-court play has been great and anchored the offense with senior Jamaree Bouyea and junior Khalil Shabazz scoring 46% of the points this season. Bouyea leads the way with 17.3 points per game and is dishing out a team-high 3.5 assists per game. Shabazz is a more pure-scorer averaging 15.8 points shooting 35% from three on nearly 8 attempts per contest.

San Fransisco is allowing 69.3 points per game ranking 149th in the country in scoring defense. They’ve done an especially good job of defending the perimeter with opponents making the 4.8 threes per game, the 4th least in the country. The Dons are 97th in KenPom adjusted defense.

BYU has also played well on the defensive end allowing 67.8 points per game ranking 109th in the country in scoring defense. Opponents are shooting 40.9% from the field, 33% from beyond the arc and the Cougars are 38th in effective field-goal percentage. BYU is 25th in KenPom adjusted defense.