The SIU Edwardsville Cougars (1‑0) and UTSA Roadrunners (1‑0) will face one another on Friday afternoon. Both teams won their season openers and will try to build on those performances in their first Division I matchups of the season. Before tip-off from San Antonio, you can find my SIU Edwardsville vs UTSA prediction below.
SIU Edwardsville enters the season looking to build on a breakthrough year in which they won the 2025 Ohio Valley Conference tournament and made their first NCAA Tournament. They opened their season with a blowout win over the East-West University Phantoms, a non-Division I opponent that sounds like a made-up institution. This will be the first actual test of the year for SIUE and they will try to pass it on the road.
UTSA also beat up on a non-Division I foe to start the season. They won 97-30 against the College of Biblical Studies Ambassadors, a name that sounds too outlandish to make up. Macaleab Rich scored 15 points to lead the Roadrunners in that game but that wasn't a game where we were able to learn anything of value about these teams.
Score Projection: SIU Edwardsville 65 – UTSA 77
Win Probability: SIU Edwardsville 30%, UTSA 70%
From a betting strategy standpoint, it might be smart for bettors to focus on live betting in this game instead of hitting the pregame betting markets. We haven't seen either of these teams against Division I competition yet and they are likely to look very different than they did a season ago or even earlier in the week. Making some observations as this game unfolds and turning those observations into informed live bets might be a smart move.
For now, my best bet for this game is for the Roadrunners to cover the spread as a home favorite. Advanced metrics show that UTSA is expected to be the better team this year. I'll take my chances with them in an early start in Texas on Friday afternoon.
Jay Sanin is the GM and Head of Sports at ATS.io. He has been writing about sports gambling since 2013, handicapping tens of thousands of sporting events. He plays sides and totals aggressively across most sports and is more selective in player prop markets. He does his own modeling across most sports, and his family is jealous of how much time he spends on his precious spreadsheets.
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