The San Diego Toreros and the Saint Mary’s Gaels meet Saturday in college basketball action from McKeon Pavilion. San Diego is coming off a loss to Santa Clara that dropped the Toreros to 16-12 overall. As for Saint Mary’s, they’re 22-6 so far and beat San Francisco on Tuesday in their last outing. Let’s get into our San Diego vs. Saint Mary’s prediction. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.
San Diego Toreros
The Toreros had mixed results over their first 20 games, maintaining a .500 run at 10-10 overall. Since then San Diego has played better on a 6-2 run with wins over Portland, Pepperdine, Santa Clara, Loyola Marymount, Pacific and Portland again. The two losses were to San Francisco and Santa Clara.
Matched up against Santa Clara last weekend, the Toreros came out of the break with a 32-23 deficit. San Diego didn’t end up getting any closer on a 50-46 second half and took the loss 82-69 in the end. Deuce Turner came off the bench to lead the team on 30 points and three boards.
More College Basketball Picks: North Carolina vs Virginia Prediction!
St. Mary’s Gaels
Over on the Gaels’ side, their last loss came versus Missouri State way back on December 23. Saint Mary’s has beaten Kent State, San Diego, LMU, Portland, Santa Clara, San Francisco, Pacific, LMU, Santa Clara, Gonzaga, Pacific, Portland, Pepperdine and San Francisco in the 14 outings since then.
In their rematch with San Francisco on Tuesday, the Gaels went into the locker room with a 30-25 advantage. Saint Mary’s was outscored 41-40 from there but held on for the win 70-66. Mitchell Saxen led the way on a double-double with 20 points and 13 rebounds in the victory.
ANDREW’S FREE SAN DIEGO VS SAINT MARY’S PREDICTION
I’ll stay with Saint Mary’s. The line’s a little too thick to play around with, though. It’s been a great run for the Gaels lately, and they’re coming off another nice win over a good San Francisco team. Saint Mary’s gave up 48.1 percent shooting in that one and wasn’t so hot from the line (22-of-32) but otherwise it was a pretty solid all-around effort. The Gaels have hit 68 or more points in 12 of the 14 games during this current win streak.
The last time these teams saw each other back on January 4, Saint Mary’s secured an 81-70 road victory. The Gaels shot a nice 52.9 percent from the field in that one during a sloppy game with 34 overall turnovers (15 from Saint Mary’s). So long as the Gaels can clean up the ball control a little bit in the rematch they should be fine cover-wise.