The Eastern Washington Eagles take on the Montana Grizzlies in Missoula, MT. Tip-off is set for 11 p.m. ET on ESPN2.
Montana is favored by 9.5 points on the spread with a moneyline of -455. The total is set at 145.5 points.
Here are my Eastern Washington vs. Montana predictions and college basketball picks for March 3, 2025.
Eastern Washington vs Montana Prediction
My Pick: Over 145.5
My Eastern Washington vs Montana best bet is on the over, with the best odds currently available at DraftKings. For all of your college basketball bets, find the best lines using our live NCAAB odds page.
Eastern Washington vs Montana Odds
| Eastern Washington Odds | ||
|---|---|---|
| Spread | Total | Moneyline |
+9.5 -108 | 145.5 -110 / -110 | +350 |
| Montana Odds | ||
|---|---|---|
| Spread | Total | Moneyline |
-9.5 -112 | 145.5 -110 / -110 | -455 |
- Eastern Washington vs Montana spread: Montana -9.5
- Eastern Washington vs Montana over/under: 145.5 points
- Eastern Washington vs Montana moneyline: Montana -455, Eastern Washington +350
- Eastern Washington vs Montana best bet: Over 145.5
Spread
I'm passing on the spread.
Moneyline
I'm passing on the moneyline.
Over/Under
I'm taking the over, as I expect another barn-burner between these two.
My Pick: Over 145.5
Eastern Washington vs Montana College Basketball Betting Preview
Eastern Washington has lost four straight, failing to cover in each game. The Eagles are due for some positive shooting regression after the stretch (32% from 3, 44% from 3 allowed over the past five games), but I don’t think it totally accounts for the pathetic performances — they’ve lost three of the four by 19 or more.
Meanwhile, this is a massive game for Montana. After losing to Portland State on Saturday, the Grizzlies are now tied with Northern Colorado atop the Big Sky standings.
Unfortunately, I believe they’ll still be the two seed in Starch Madness if the chalk holds, but they could be the one seed with a win and a Bears loss to Weber State.
Therefore, I believe the situational spot favors Montana.
The Grizzlies are an elite attack-and-kick offense behind Money Williams’ creation and the bevy of off-ball shooters and cutters surrounding him.
They’re one of the mid-majors’ best rim-and-3 offenses, and that should be a problem for a Eastern Washington defense that gets shredded at the rim and allows a high catch-and-shoot rate — the Eagles rank 324th nationally in rim-and-3 rate allowed (86%, per ShotQuality) and 357th in rim-and-3 PPP allowed (1.13, per ShotQuality).
Eastern Washington runs a similar attack-and-kick, motion-based offense, but the Eagles aren’t great in the spacing or shooting departments.
They’re more efficient in rim-running cutting or post-up sets, and that could work against Montana’s questionable interior defense — the Grizzlies grade out very poorly defending against cutting (1.27 PPP allowed, 18th percentile, per Synergy) and post-up (.98 PPP allowed, 10th percentile, per Synergy).
These two played the only regular season head-to-head meeting on January 2, when the Grizzlies pulled out a barn-burning 92-81 win.
Montana operated uber-efficiently off the dribble (28 points on 17 ball-screen sets, 1.65 PPP, per Synergy) and on cutting sets (nine points on four sets, 2.25 PPP, per Synergy), ultimately working the interior (42 paint points) while shooting 8-for-19 (42%) from deep.
Williams was excellent in that matchup, dropping 26 points and seven assists.
However, Eastern Washington managed 34 paint points on 17-for-28 (61%) shooting by operating efficiently in cutting (eight points on six sets, 1.33 PPP, per Synergy) and post-up (nine points on nine sets, 1.00 PPP, per Synergy) sets.
And, most importantly, the Eagles ripped apart Montana on the glass. The Grizzlies are a weaker defensive rebounding team, and Eastern Washington snagged 14 offensive boards and scored 18 second-chance points.
Altogether, all that offensive efficiency seems sustainable in the rematch. I could see another high-scoring barn-burner, especially with the Grizzlies in must-win mode.
I’m a tad worried about the pace, as Montana isn’t the most up-tempo squad. However, Eastern Washington is, and the Eagles managed to speed the game up (69 possessions) by throwing the ball away 15 times and allowing the Grizzlies to score 21 fast-break points.
So, I’m OK with the projected pace when betting this over.
