UCF vs Western Illinois 11/14/22 College Basketball Picks, Predictions, Odds

The Western Illinois Leathernecks and the UCF Knights meet in college basketball action from the Addition Financial Arena on Monday night.

The Western Illinois Leathernecks will look to rebound from an 86-74 loss to DePaul in their last game. Alec Rosner led the Leathernecks with 16 points while Jesiah West added 13 points with team-highs of 6 rebounds and 5 assists. Vuk Stevanic added 13 points of his own while Quinlan Bennett added 12 points to cap off the scoring in double figures for WIU in the losing effort. Trenton Massner also added 8 points and 6 rebounds as well in the losing effort.

The UCF Knights will try to build on their 68-54 win over Florida State in their last game. Jayhlon Young led the Knights with 17 points on 6 of 10 shooting with a team-high 4 assists while Taylor Hendricks added 15 points along with a team-high 12 rebounds for the double-double and Ithiel Horton added 14 points with 3 assists as well in the win to cap off the group of double-digit scorers for UCF. Lahat Thioune also added 10 rebounds of his own as well in the victory for UCF.

Western Illinois is 0-5 ATS in their last 5 games following an ATS win and 0-6 ATS in their last 6 games following a loss while the under is 5-1 in their last 6 road games. UCF is 1-11 ATS in their last 12 games following an ATS win and 1-5 ATS in their last 6 games overall while the under is 10-2 in their last 12 games overall.

I get the reasoning for backing either side in this game, but I am going to side with Western Illinois and the points. The Knights got a big win last time out and while it may sound weird so early, I think the Knights might be in for a letdown after a nice win over their in-state power conference rival. Western Illinois has the offense to keep themselves in games with high point spreads and while UCF’s the better defensive unit, I think the Knights win but fail to get the cover.