St. Mary’s vs Oral Roberts 11/7/22 College Basketball Picks, Predictions, Odds

The Oral Roberts Golden Eagles and the Saint Mary’s Gaels meet in college basketball action from the McKeon Pavilion on Monday night.

The Oral Roberts Golden Eagles will try to recreate some of the magic from 2020-21 season, finishing last year with a record of 19-12 overall, including a 12-6 record in Summit League conference play to finish with the 3-seed. The Golden Eagles took out Western Illinois before falling to North Dakota State in the semifinals, ending their season. The Golden Eagles have the benefit of not having to retool from last year’s team. Max Abmas is back after logging 22.8 PPG and 3.7 APG last year while Isaac McBride had 12.3 PPG and Patrick Mwamba had 10 PPG for UT-Arlington last season. Connor Vanover transfers in from Arkansas to man the middle at 7’5” while Trey Phipps and DeShang Weaver will likely have key roles off of the bench.

The Saint Mary’s Gaels will be out to build on another solid year after going 26-8 in 2021-22, including a 12-3 mark in West Coast Conference play. The Gaels took out Santa Clara in the semifinals before falling to Gonzaga in the conference championship game. The Gaels were invited to the NCAA tournament with an at-large bid, taking out Indiana in the first round before being ousted by UCLA in the second round, ending their season. The Gaels are tasked with replacing two of their top players from last year, including Matthias Tass (12.6 PPG, 6.1 RPG) and Tommy Kuhse (12.2 PPG, 3.7 RPG). The Gaels do bring back Logan Johnson (11.9 PPG, 4.1 RPG) and Alex Ducas (10.3 PPG, 3.9 RPG) so there is some returning double-digit scoring production from last year.

Oral Roberts is 5-2 ATS in their last 7 Monday games and 2-5 ATS in their last 7 games overall while the over is 6-1 in their last 7 road games. Saint Mary’s is 10-3 ATS in their last 13 home games and 11-5-2 ATS in their last 18 games overall while the over is 9-2-1 in their last 12 home games.

I get the case being made for Saint Mary’s at home, as the Gaels are a solid group that plays really good defense. However, I’d argue that the Golden Eagles are the better team getting points here, as Oral Roberts didn’t have to do anything but go out and bring in extra talent to bolster their rotation. Saint Mary’s still has some learning to do on the fly and I think it’ll cost them here as Oral Roberts has a chance to win outright.