Dartmouth Big Green vs UAlbany Great Danes Prediction, Odds, Best Bets - Week 2

Dartmouth is scoring 82.3 points a game and allowing just 63.3 through three games, while UAlbany leans on Ollie Engen for both scoring and creating at the Broadview Center. A total of 143.5 and a short road line set up a one-possession kind of afternoon in Albany.

The Matchup

Dartmouth visits UAlbany on Wednesday at the Broadview Center in Albany, on ESPN+, with Dartmouth a 1.5-point favorite, a total of 143.5, and the Big Green priced at -130 on the moneyline against the Great Danes at +110. The tip is at 12:00 PM CT, and a road favorite this short has no margin for a sloppy start on someone else's floor.

Dartmouth is 2-1 in the Ivy League, scoring 82.3 points a game and allowing 63.3 in the 2026-27 season, the strongest defensive number in this matchup by a wide distance. Cameron McNamee leads the Big Green at 16.0 points a game, Landon Williams leads them at 2.3 assists a game, and Patrick Tivnan Jr. leads them at 6.0 rebounds a game. UAlbany is 2-1 in the America East Conference, scoring 68.7 points a game and allowing 69.3. Ollie Engen leads the Great Danes at 18.0 points and 5.7 assists a game, carrying the scoring and the creating in the same pair of hands, and Zacharie Matulu leads them at 8.3 rebounds a game.

The early numbers for Dartmouth point to a real change at one end, in this team's own terms. The Big Green went 11-16 in 2025-26, scored 75.8 points a game, and allowed 76.7, so a team that spent last season giving up nearly seventy-seven a night is allowing 63.3 through three games this season, and that defensive jump, not the scoring, is what has changed in Hanover.

UAlbany went 11-21 last season, scored 72.0, and allowed 72.9, and its profile this season looks much closer to that team, only quieter on offense at 68.7 a game. Dartmouth has to prove its new defense travels; UAlbany has to prove it can score enough when Engen is accounted for.

Key Factors

Engen is both UAlbany's problem and its solution. At 18.0 points and 5.7 assists a game he is the best scorer and the best creator on the floor, and Dartmouth's whole plan runs through making his touches harder without opening easy chances for everyone else. The Big Green allowing 63.3 points a game suggests a defense that can stay connected on a primary option, and if Engen has to work for his points all afternoon, UAlbany's scoring, already the lower of the two teams at 68.7 a game, has very little slack left in it.

McNamee gives Dartmouth the answer every road favorite needs. At 16.0 points a game he is close enough to Engen's mark that UAlbany cannot simply win the best-player battle and bank the game, and a close contest on the road usually turns on which team has a scorer who can produce a good shot late without a play being drawn up.

Matulu is UAlbany's counterweight. At 8.3 rebounds a game against Tivnan at 6.0, he gives the Great Danes a real edge on the glass, and extra home possessions are exactly how a slight underdog keeps a better defensive team from ever pulling away.

The honest counterpoint is that UAlbany has the best individual player in this game and the home floor under him. Engen leads the matchup in scoring and assists at the same time, Matulu should win the rebounding battle, and Dartmouth's defensive start has come in three games for a program that allowed 76.7 points a game across a full season last winter. If Engen controls the game from the first possession and the Great Danes turn the glass into second chances, the road favorite's defensive story fades quickly and UAlbany wins this game outright.

Every pick is published with its line before the game. Odds via consensus sportsbooks at time of writing and move constantly. Must be 21+. If gambling is a problem, call or text 1-800-GAMBLER.