James Madison vs. App State prediction: Why Appalachian State is favored to win men's college basketball matchup [1/15/2026]

App State will take on James Madison, in what is expected to be a tight men's college basketball game, at George M. Holmes Convocation Center on Thursday, starting at 6:30 PM ET.

Based on updated simulation results, Dimers' proven college basketball model gives Appalachian State a slight edge with a 52% win probability over James Madison.

This article offers a closer look at Thursday's James Madison vs. App State matchup, including an expanded look at the predicted score, best bets and picks.

James Madison vs. App State prediction: Who will win and cover?

Using trusted machine learning and data, we have simulated the outcome of Thursday's NCAA basketball game between James Madison and App State 10,000 times as part of our men's college basketball predictions coverage.

Our independent predictive model currently gives Appalachian State a 52% chance of defeating James Madison. Our predicted score is James Madison 68-68 Appalachian State.

According to our model, James Madison (+1.5) has a 55% chance of covering the spread, while the over/under total of 135.5 points has a 53% chance of going over.

While there is no way for a men's college basketball game to end in a tie, our prediction of 68-68 is based on each team's average score in the above-mentioned simulations of James Madison vs. Appalachian State.

James Madison vs. App State odds

We have sourced the best men's college basketball odds in America for this game, which are listed here:

All odds are correct at the time of publication and are subject to change.

James Madison vs. App State picks and best bet

After matching our predictions against the best current odds, we can reveal our picks for each of the major markets. Plus, find our best bet for the game below: