Wisconsin vs. BYU: Picks, Predictions and Odds

One of the best games on Saturday's March Madness slate takes place in the East Region, as the #6 seed BYU Cougars will take on the #3 seed Wisconsin Badgers in a game that should feature plenty of points. 

Wisconsin is rolling into this game, having just knocked off Montana in a rout on Thursday. As for the Cougars, BYU survived its first test of NCAA Tournament action against an excellent VCU team that many experts had circled to pull off the upset. 

Will BYU be able to spring the small upset, or will Wisconsin pick up another postseason victory and advance to the next round? 

Let’s get into our expert’s BYU vs Wisconsin picks, predictions and best bets for this highly anticipated East Region NCAA Tournament second round matchup on Saturday.

Wisconsin vs. BYU betting picks and predictions

BYU ML (+105)

To our expert, this could be an extremely high variance matchup due to the fact that both teams’ styles of play generally lends itself to high variance games. 

BYU is largely a jump-shooting based team that has the ability to knock down shots from all over the court, thanks in large part to the myriad of quality shooters that head coach Kevin Young is able to put on the floor at any given moment. 

Just like we saw against an excellent VCU defense in Thursday’s matchup, the Cougars generate a lot of high-percentage shots (ranked sixth nationally in effective field goal percentage), giving this offense a very high floor each time they take the court. 

BYU's offense is generally elite in any venue, and Ball Arena in Denver, Colorado should be filled with plenty of BYU fans, making this one a de-facto home game for this red-hot unit. 

With that in mind, it’s hard to take Wisconsin as small favorites in a game where the teams are fairly similar and we know the Cougars will have the crowd support. 

All things considered, our expert is taking BYU to win outright in the small underdog role, although that is not our best bet in this game.

Over 155.5 (-110)

While our expert leans toward BYU as the side in this matchup, our best bet comes in the game totals market, where the Over 155.5 at -110 is our recommended wager.

The biggest edge for the Cougars in this game is their ability to consistently put Wisconsin's backcourt in conflict with their fluid motion offense on the perimeter, and that doesn't bode well for the Badgers over 40 minutes. This is a Wisconsin defense that doesn't force turnovers and can be had from beyond the 3-point arc, which is obviously where this BYU team wants to live.

As for the Badgers, Greg Gard's team is coming off a routine victory over Montana in which Wisconsin's offense looked like its usual self again. This focused and consistent effort followed its poor performance in a loss to Michigan in the Big Ten title game. 

Wisconsin’s success on Thursday should carry over into this matchup against a BYU defense that has been on the right side of some fortunate shooting variance from its opponents in recent weeks. Considering that Wisconsin is one of the best three-point shooting teams in the nation, our expert doesn't expect the Cougars to be as fortunate in Saturday’s contest. 

Furthermore, the Cougars don't do a good enough job of forcing turnovers (175th in turnover percentage) and they consistently allow a lot of open looks from beyond the arc (334rd in three-point rate allowed). If there was ever a team to take advantage of these lapses, it would be this Wisconsin program that has been shooting extremely well from three-point range all season long. 

Ultimately, our expert will take the over in a game that should feature plenty of fireworks on Saturday.

Read more College Basketball betting picks and predictions on site.

Wisconsin vs. BYU odds

Wisconsin	-125
BYU	+105
Spread	Wisconsin-1.5
Total	O/U 155.5

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This article was written by a partner sports writer via Spotlight Sports Group. All odds displayed on this page were correct at the time of writing and are subject to withdrawal or change at any time.