UMBC vs. Howard prediction: Howard favored to win men's March Madness First Four matchup [3/17/2026]

Howard will square off with UMBC in March Madness First Four action at UD Arena on Tuesday, commencing at 6:40 PM ET.

Based on updated simulations, Dimers' advanced college basketball model predicts Howard as the most likely winner of the UMBC vs. Howard game.

This article offers a closer look at Tuesday's matchup, including an expanded look at the predicted score, best bets and picks.

UMBC vs. Howard prediction: Who will win and advance to the First Round?

Using powerful machine learning and data, we have simulated the outcome of Tuesday's NCAAM Tournament matchup between UMBC and Howard 10,000 times as part of our men's college basketball predictions coverage.

Our famous predictive model gives Howard a 55% chance of defeating UMBC. Our predicted final score has Howard winning 74-72.

According to our model, Howard (+1.5) has a 57% chance of covering the spread, while the over/under total of 144.5 points has a 53% chance of going over.

UMBC vs. Howard odds

We have researched 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.

UMBC vs. Howard picks and best bet

After matching our probabilities 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: