BYU Cougars vs Wisconsin Badgers Prediction, Odds and Picks for Saturday, 03/22/25

One of the best games on Saturday’s March Madness slate takes place in the East Region, as the BYU Cougars will take on the Wisconsin Badgers in a game that should feature plenty of points. BYU is largely a jump-shooting based team that has the ability to knock down shots from all over the court, thanks to the myriad of quality shooters that head coach Kevin Young can have on the floor at any given moment. BYU’s offense is generally elite in any venue, and like we saw against an excellent VCU defense on Thursday, the Cougars generate a lot of high-percentage shots (6th in effective field goal percentage). The Cougars should be able to make Wisconsin’s backcourt pay with their fluid motion offense on the perimeter, and that doesn’t bode well for the Badgers. This is a Wisconsin that defense 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 got back on track in a major way following its poor performance in the Big Ten title game. That success should carry over into this matchup against a BYU defense that has been on the right side of some very fortunate shooting variance from its opponents of late. Considering that Wisconsin is one of the best 3-point shooting teams in the nation, I wouldn’t expect the Cougars to get this fortunate once again on Saturday. Furthermore, the Cougars don’t do a good enough job of forcing turnovers (175th in turnover percentage) and they allow a ton of open looks from beyond the arc (334rd in 3-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 the cover off the ball from 3-point range. All things considered, I think we get plenty of points on Saturday, so let’s take the over in Denver. 

BYU vs Wisconsin prediction: Over 154.5 (-110) available at time of publishing. Playable to Over 155.5

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