College Basketball Best Bets Today:

We have a nice, round number to start off the second week of the college basketball season with 30 games on the schedule. Monday nights are typically going to be lighter in volume as the season goes along, but we’ll often get a big game or two. I’m not sure we have any earth-shattering games tonight, but McNeese vs. Alabama and Yale vs. Purdue could be pretty interesting.

Tonight’s slate features a lot of big underdogs, as major-conference teams battle local mid-major or low-major teams. Some are traveling a bit to their respective destinations. Keep an eye on the schedules at this time of the year, as some programs really try to load up on the “buy games” to help fund their athletic pursuits.

 

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Tracking sheet is here. 2023-24 for reference is here.

This article will run Monday-Saturday. Lines will be from DraftKings, as they are widely available to readers. Shop around for the best prices.

Shout-outs to Bart Torvik, Erik Haslam, and Ken Pomeroy, as those are my three primary resources for information when handicapping.

Check the latest college basketball odds for legal U.S. sportsbooks across the country and our Vegas odds if you share a state with us here at VSiN. Also, give the college basketball betting splits a look for these or any other college basketball games today have your interest.

Odds from DraftKings Sportsbook at time of publish.

Eastern Washington Eagles at Missouri Tigers (-19.5, 152)

7 p.m. ET

Eastern Washington and Missouri is the type of game you’ll get very early in the college basketball season. SEC vs. Big Sky. EWU lost by 20 to Colorado and then upset Seattle as a home dog in a game that we were on last week. Missouri is one up and one down as well, losing 83-75 to Memphis and winning by 15 over Howard.

In that Memphis game, Missouri led by as many as 14 in the first half, but Penny Hardaway’s team adjusted and Dennis Gates’ team did not. Gates did extremely well with building the Cleveland State program and used it as a springboard to go to Missouri, where he made the NCAA Tournament in Year 1 and went 0-18 in SEC play in Year 2.

This feels like a big number for Missouri, who has lots of talent, but lots of new faces. Eastern Washington is playing with a new head coach and a lot of new faces for former Long Beach State coach Dan Monson, but what I love about them is that they are hellbent on getting to the rim. The Tigers don’t project to defend very well on the interior.

Also, I think it’s interesting that we’re seeing the total move down here, even though Monson’s LBSU teams played at some of the highest tempos in the country and EWU’s last game nearly touched 180 points. Maybe that adds a premium to a 19.5-point head start.

Pick: Eastern Washington +19.5

UT Martin Skyhawks at North Alabama Lions (-9, 151.5)

7 p.m. ET

UT Martin had a very impressive first game by beating Illinois State, a team I liked quite a bit after writing up the Missouri Valley Conference in our 2024-25 College Basketball Betting Guide. I did some research on head coach Jeremy Shulman after that game and specifically listened to the parts where he talked about his defense, which is a man-to-man that gets misinterpreted as a zone.

He didn’t go into great detail with the interviewer, but it does seem like it has the potential to confuse some teams. Illinois State was 9-of-41 from 3 in the opener and that’s not their game at all. And I think Ryan Pedon is a really good head coach. I think North Alabama’s Tony Pujol is okay, but he’s had two winning seasons at North Alabama.

The Lions shot the lights out against Joe Scott’s matchup zone in the season-opening win at Air Force, but I’d expect 15-of-29 to be very much the exception and not the norm.

While UT Martin struggled on offense in that win over Illinois State, I absolutely love that 32 of their 41 2-point shots were at the rim. They got the ball inside and had chances to score. I think that’s a winning formula going forward paired with a defense that teams could struggle with at the outset.

Pick: UT Martin +9

Pacific Tigers at Hawaii Rainbow Warriors (-3.5, 142.5)

Midnight ET

The betting market seems excited that Pacific has improved from last season, moving them down from 5 to 3.5 in this game out on the island against Hawaii. It’s a standalone game and that always concerns me when it comes to long travel, plus there can be some officiating shenanigans out in Hawaii at times.

More than hoping for a kind whistle, I like the way Hawaii plays. Eran Ganot’s team does everything possible to run teams off the 3-point line. Pacific doesn’t project to be a team to shoot a lot of them, but I can’t imagine they’ll have much success if they do. Also, the teams have a common opponent in San Jose State. The Spartans had 33 attempts at the rim against Pacific, whereas they only had 17 (and only five made shots) against Hawaii.

The Rainbow Warriors are a really solid defensive team to back from a shot selection standpoint, especially at closely-lined games like this and with that potentially favorable whistle.

Also, I really like Tanner Christensen, who had 21 points and eight rebounds in just 20 minutes while dealing with a little foul trouble in that SJSU game. Pacific is very thin when it comes to depth and that’s especially true on the inside where 7-footer Jazz Gardner is really the only hope of stopping Hawaii’s big man.

Pick: Hawaii -3.5

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