College Basketball Odds & Pick for UCF vs BYU

UCF and BYU are trying to make their mark in an extremely competitive Big 12 conference. Each school has several signature wins in their first season in the Big 12, but each sit in the bottom half of the conference.

In spite of BYU losing five league games so far, the Cougars are ranked 12th in the nation, according to KenPom. Meanwhile, UCF owns a 4-6 mark in the Big 12 while doing a solid job covering numbers as an underdog in league action.

Here's college basketball odds and a pick for UCF vs. BYU.

The transition from the AAC to the Big 12 wasn’t going to be a cakewalk for Johnny Dawkins’ squad, but the Knights have actually picked up a few surprising wins.

UCF has knocked off three top-25 KenPom teams, including Kansas, Texas and Oklahoma.

The most amazing part of the victories over Kansas and Texas is UCF erased 16-point deficits in each of those wins. The Knights never trailed in an 11-point home victory over Oklahoma, and UCF is 7-2 against the spread in its last nine games.

UCF’s offensive numbers are frankly offensive, as the Knights rank 13th out of 14 schools in efficiency in conference play. The Knights sit 14th in 2-point percentage (42.4%) and 12th in 3-point percentage (30.8%) against conference foes, while scoring 66 points or less eight times.

Incredibly, UCF has trailed by double digits at some point in all five road conference games, including in Saturday’s 66-59 defeat at Texas Tech. However, the Knights still managed to cover as eight-point underdogs, marking the fourth ATS win in conference play receiving seven points or more. 

UCF’s two leading scorers — Jaylin Sellers and Darius Johnson — are combining to score a shade over 30 points per game, as the Knights are one of two teams in the Big 12 that showcase only two players averaging double digits in points.

BYU finished 7-9 in its last season as a member of the West Coast Conference. The Cougars have split 10 games in their move up to the Big 12 this season, which includes a 3-2 mark in Provo.

BYU has overcome a 2-4 start in the league to win three of its last four games, capped off by edging Kansas State on Saturday, 72-66. The Cougars won in spite of missing 11 free throws, as BYU ranks ninth in Big 12 play at the line by shooting nearly 70%.

In the first matchup with UCF in Orlando, the Cougars picked up their first ever Big 12 win following an 0-2 start. But BYU failed to cash as 5.5-point road favorites even though the Cougars built a 57-44 lead with around seven minutes to play. The Cougars limited the Knights to 35% shooting on 2-point attempts in that game, while UCF knocked down just 3-of-18 3-pointers and missed 12 free throws.

BYU has excelled in 2-point shooting this season by hitting 58.7% of its attempts, while second in that category in Big 12 action at 56.3%.

As opposed to only two Knights putting up double figures in scoring, the Cougars come with six different players averaging at least 10 points per game. 

Leading scorer Jaxson Robinson (13.5 PPG) has seen his numbers dip in Big 12 play by putting up only 10.4 points per game, while being held to single digits four times. The most impactful player in Big 12 play of late for BYU has been Fousseyni Traore, who is averaging 18.7 PPG in the last four games. 

Traore played seven minutes and scored three points in the last meeting with UCF, but has scored 21 points or more in each of the last two road games at West Virginia and Oklahoma.

UCF struggles to score points and has found itself in several big holes in conference play. However, the Knights have proven they can hang with some of the nation's best teams.

BYU can put up the points, but its lowest-scoring output in a Big 12 win came at UCF last month.

This is too big of a number to lay with the home team, so let's grab UCF to continue its stellar against the spread run.

Pick: UCF +10.5 (Play to +9.5)