The Utah Utes take on the Saint Mary's Gaels. Check out our college basketball odds series for our Utah Saint Mary's prediction and pick. Find how to watch Utah Saint Mary's.

The Saint Mary's Gaels were predicted by some college basketball analysts — not unanimously, but certainly in some corners of the industry and its pundit class — as a team which would finish above Gonzaga in the West Coast Conference this season. There was some legitimate basis for this. Gonzaga was a No. 3 seed in the 2023 NCAA Tournament, Saint Mary's No. 5. Gonzaga lost one of its all-time-best players, Drew Timme, who finally sought a pro career. Saint Mary's brought back point guard Aidan Mahaney, who showed enormous promise as a freshman and was supposed to grow into his role this season. Gonzaga did not make massive, game-changing transactions in the transfer portal, so the idea that SMC could rise above Gonzaga and win the WCC was hardly ludicrous. Yet, none of this has panned out.

Mahaney has plainly struggled. His floor game is not where he or Randy Bennett or most analysts expected it would be. He has not been able to command games and dictate tempo the way he did for much of last season. Saint Mary's blew a 14-point lead with nearly 12 minutes left in regulation to Weber State. Then the Gaels lost by 25 points to San Diego State and by 17 points to Xavier. It has been a very rough start to the season for SMC, which badly needs to pick up quality wins to offset this collection of losses. The Gaels will get two if not three chances to beat Gonzaga later in the season, and BYU is playing well enough that SMC can boost its resume with a victory over the Cougars, but not many other quality win chances exist on the schedule. Saint Mary's really has to get going, and this Utah game could be considered close to a must-win situation.

Here are the Utah-Saint Mary's College Basketball odds, courtesy of FanDuel.

College Basketball Odds: Utah-Saint Mary's Odds

Utah Utes: +4.5 (-110)

Saint Mary's Gaels: -4.5 (-110)

Over: 134.5 (-110)

Under: 134.5 (-110)

How To Watch Utah vs Saint Mary's

Time: 11:00 pm ET / 8:00 pm PT

TV: ESPNU

Stream: fuboTV (click for a free trial)*

Why Utah Could Cover the Spread

The Saint Mary's Gaels just aren't aligned or cohesive early in the season. They did blow out Davidson over the weekend, but Davidson isn't especially strong this season. Against good opposition, SMC has faltered, mostly because Aidan Mahaney is not playing the way he or anyone else expected him to. If Mahaney continues to struggle, Saint Mary's will remain a highly deficient team. Utah could not only cover the spread but win outright.

Utah gave Houston a good battle, losing by 10 in a game where it trailed by only four points midway through the second half. If Utah can give Houston — a top-10 team — a good test, it can definitely beat a sluggish and inconsistent Saint Mary's team. Branden Carlson might be the best player on the floor in this game. If he is, Utah's chances of covering go way up.

Why Saint Mary's Could Cover the Spread

The Gaels are in must-win mode. Their performance against Davidson revealed a level of urgency one would expect from a team which has suffered some bad losses and is essentially playing catch-up, trying to improve a damaged resume. That urgency might be the best reason to pick Saint Mary's. The Gaels clearly need this game more than Utah does.

Final Utah-Saint Mary's Prediction & Pick

The struggles of SMC make it hard to trust the Gaels. Stay away from this game and wait for a live-betting play.

Final Utah-Saint Mary's Prediction & Pick: Saint Mary's -4.5