College Basketball Best Bets Today:

More than 300 college basketball teams are on the floor today, as we’ve got what I believe is the biggest card of the season. In total, there are 154 games to pick from, but not for me, as I’m only looking at games beginning at 5 p.m. ET or later to give the article enough lead time for readers.

Fortunately, on a day like today, that leaves me with a lot of options. But, with a PT start and a lot of games to sort through, it takes time. Check out Greg Peterson’s daily article if you’re ever looking for earlier games. As for me, here’s what I like in the evening and nighttime hours.

 

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

This article will run Monday-Saturday (not next week, see exception above). 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.

Sacred Heart Pioneers (-1.5, 152.5) at Fairfield Stags

7 p.m. ET

To the MAAC we go for this matchup between Sacred Heart and Fairfield. The Pioneers were good to us on Thursday night with a 12-point win over Rider as a five-point favorite. Sacred Heart is on a bit of a heater right now, as some players got healthy and head coach Anthony Latina made some lineup changes. They’ve won four in a row, scoring 1.299, 1.320, .975, and 1.245 points per possession.

Fairfield had some 70-foot heroics to knock off a watered-down Marist team on Thursday, as Jackson Price missed the game for the Red Foxes. It still marked the fourth straight game for the Stags with fewer than 1 PPP, as they’ve scored .831, .946, .965, and .996 points per possession in their recent games.

Sacred Heart leads all MAAC members in adjusted offensive efficiency in league play and now draws the worst defense in the conference, as Fairfield ranks 13th in adjusted defensive efficiency. The Pioneers are up to 36.8% from 3 and take on a Fairfield defense that ranks 340th in the nation in 3P% at 37.3%. Sacred Heart is similarly bad at defending 3s, but the Stags are 272nd in the nation at 31.8%.

Sacred Heart is first in eFG% offense and ninth in eFG% defense, while Fairfield is 12th in both categories. Sacred Heart should also have a modest edge on the glass and could also win the turnover battle.

Pick: Sacred Heart -1.5

Green Bay Phoenix at Fort Wayne Mastodons (-15.5, 153)

7 p.m. ET

With a full week off between games, Green Bay head coach Doug Gottlieb was parading around Radio Row at the Super Bowl instead of doing work to help his 2-22 team win more basketball games. NCAA rules mandate off days for teams during the week, so it wasn’t like Gottlieb was missing practices, per se, but he could’ve watched some film of Fort Wayne and did more to assist his team.

The Phoenix are 0-13 in Horizon League play and opponents have to salivate heading into those games. Fort Wayne won the first meeting 83-67 back on Dec. 29. The thing about that game that stands out the most to me is that Green Bay was 19-of-25 on shot attempts at the rim. Fort Wayne was 10-of-22. And the Phoenix still lost by 16.

The Mastodons went 15-of-27 from 3, which might not be completely repeatable, but they are shooting 38.4% from 3, which ranks 16th in the nation, and the Phoenix are allowing opponents to shoot over 38% from deep and rank 352nd in the nation.

I think Jon Coffman is a good head coach and his Mastodons have a 20% TO% on defense against a Green Bay team that has turned it over on more than 20% of their possessions. I’d expect some extra opportunities to score for Fort Wayne and that’s how they can put some distance in this one.

Fort Wayne is also off of their best defensive performance of the conference play season, holding Wright State to just .858 points per possession.

Pick: Fort Wayne -15.5

Southeast Missouri State Redhawks (-3.5, 143) at Southern Indiana Screaming Eagles

8:30 p.m. ET

We picked up a winner on Thursday night in the Ohio Valley Conference by going against Southern Indiana and I’m looking to do it again here tonight. Southeast Missouri State just might be the class of the OVC this season. The Redhawks lead the conference in adjusted offensive efficiency and eFG% offense, shooting 52.3% on 2s and 36.4% on 3s. Southern Indiana is allowing opponents to make over 40% of their 3-point shots in league play.

So this should be a good opportunity for SEMO State to keep rolling on the offensive end of the floor. Southern Indiana also ranks eighth in adjusted offensive efficiency, as they are only shooting 44.2% on 2s and 31.6% on 3s. They are doing a pretty good job of not turning the ball over, though SEMO State is better at forcing takeaways than most OVC squads.

SEMO State won the first game back on Jan. 9 by a 77-66 count. They’re playing really well of late with wins in their last four games and over a point per possession in five of their last six, scoring 1.162, .949, 1.154, 1.289, 1.129, and 1.229 PPP for an average of 1.152 PPP. The first game between the two teams was played to 71 possessions, so they could threaten to score 80 points in this one. I can’t see Southern Indiana keeping up if that’s the case.

Pick: Southeast Missouri State -3.5

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