College Basketball Best Bets Today:

The second Thursday of 2025 features 55 college basketball games and a lot of smaller conferences on display. The Big Ten takes the top spot with Oregon and Ohio State at 6 p.m. ET, but most of the rest of the card features one or maybe two-bid leagues. We’ve only got 14 games tomorrow as most of the nation’s squads gear up for the weekend, as we’re going to have very busy Saturday slates from here on out.

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

 

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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.

Elon Phoenix at William & Mary Tribe (-2.5, 153)

7 p.m. ET

Elon heads to William & Mary in a game that I think will make the Phoenix very uncomfortable. Elon is 300th in adjusted tempo per Torvik. W&M is 25th. The Tribe love to play with tempo and take a lot of 3s. Elon is okay with forcing teams into 3s, but William & Mary will be one of the better teams they’ve encountered at making them, shooting 36.4% from beyond the arc so far.

William & Mary can be a high-variance team under first-year head coach Brian Earl because they are not very good defensively. Elon is, but the Phoenix are probably in line for some negative regression. They are 22nd in eFG% defense, but only have a 12.7% TO% that ranks 359th in the nation. Elon has played the 240th-ranked opposing schedule by Offensive Rating per KenPom.

William & Mary is 92nd in ORtg per KP and 25th in eFG% offense per Torvik. North Carolina, Notre Dame, and Wofford are the only teams better in ORtg that Elon has faced. They did beat Notre Dame, but the Fighting Irish had 1.2 points per possession in that one. North Carolina had 1.206. The only really good performance against a good offense came against Wofford with .852 PPP and Terriers were 9-of-39 from 3 and squandered 16 offensive rebounds.

This will be just the fourth home game against a Division I opponent for the Tribe. They’ve scored 1.166, 1.401, and 1.138 points per possession. I think they can outscore Elon tonight.

Pick: William & Mary -2.5

Campbell Fighting Camels at Hampton Pirates (-5, 138)

7 p.m. ET

We’ve got a game well down the board here in the CAA between Campbell and Hampton. Hampton is playing in the CAA for the third season and first time under first-year head coach Ivan Thomas. The Pirates are just 9-30 SU in their CAA games to this point and 1-2 this season, with losses to Charleston and Elon and a win over North Carolina A&T, who also just recently joined the conference.

With the line out to 5, this is Hampton’s biggest favorite role in a conference game since joining the league. In fact, it is just the sixth time in conference play that the Pirates have been favored. They were favored against Campbell at home last season and lost by 11 laying 3.5. They have that win over NC A&T this season and are 2-3 ATS in those favorite roles, but this would be the biggest one, so it’s an outlier.

Campbell has a really nice win over Drexel and a loss, but cover, against UNC Wilmington last time out in conference play. The Camels actually had 1.077 points per possession in that game, as a huge free throw disparity decided the game. The roles may be reversed here, as Hampton fouls a ton with a very aggressive defense. Campbell is shooting 78% at the free throw line, so that could be a big help for the Humpers.

Hampton doesn’t run a very efficient offense, as nearly 70% of their shots are jumpers. They’re only shooting 32.3% on mid-range jumpers and 31.5% on 3s. I don’t see that as a good path to covering in a rare favorite role in CAA play.

Pick: Campbell +5

Liberty Flames (-4, 142.5) at Sam Houston State Bearkats

7:30 p.m. ET

Liberty is on the road and that’s a rare sight. The last true road game for Liberty was 53 days ago with a resounding 21-point win against Charleston. The Flames are in the Lone Star State for their third Conference USA game of the season. They led by as many as 16 and led by 14 with under 10 minutes to play before losing to Western Kentucky, but bounced back nicely with a 10-point win over Middle Tennessee.

Sam Houston State is 0-2 with losses to New Mexico State and UTEP. Now they take on the conference’s top team. The Bearkats are awful defensively, as they rank 325th in eFG% defense, 326th in DRB%, 342nd in 2P%, and 334th in 3P%. While Liberty is heading out on the road, and they will be missing 6-foot-9 Isaiah Ihnen the rest of the way, this is a team that has run a tremendously efficient offense under head coach Ritchie McKay.

Liberty takes and makes more shots at the rim and takes and makes more 3s. Sam Houston State has actually allowed opponents to shoot 71.1% on Close Twos this season. Liberty has done well to protect the rim and also the 3-point line. They are fifth in eFG% offense and 25th in eFG% defense.

McKay is a strong head coach and his team rallied without Ihnen and to bounce back from the loss. I think he’ll have them in the right mindset for the first road game in a long time as well.

Per Liberty’s game notes, they are 212-36 SU (85.5%) when scoring at least 70 points in the McKay era. They should get there tonight and that’s the first step to covering.

Pick: Liberty -4

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