South Dakota vs. North Dakota prediction: North Dakota favored to win men's college basketball matchup [1/17/2026]

North Dakota will take on South Dakota, in what is expected to be a close men's college basketball game, at Betty Engelstad Sioux Center on Saturday, commencing at 2:00 PM ET.

Based on the latest simulations, Dimers' advanced college basketball model gives North Dakota a slight edge with a 54% win probability over South Dakota.

This article offers an expanded analysis of Saturday's South Dakota vs. North Dakota matchup, including an expanded look at the predicted score, best bets and picks.

South Dakota vs. North Dakota prediction: Who will win and cover?

Using innovative machine learning and statistical analysis, we have simulated the result of Saturday's NCAA basketball matchup between South Dakota and North Dakota 10,000 times as part of our men's college basketball predictions coverage.

Our independent predictive model gives North Dakota a 54% chance of beating South Dakota. Our predicted final score has North Dakota winning 80-78.

According to our model, South Dakota (+1.5) has a 51% chance of covering the spread, while the over/under total of 161.5 points has a 53% chance of staying under.

South Dakota vs. North Dakota 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.

South Dakota vs. North Dakota 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: