College basketball best bets today

The No. 1 team in the country is on the floor tonight, hoping to avoid what happened to the No. 2 team in a road spot on Sunday, as UConn heads to Creighton just a couple days after Purdue lost to Ohio State. That is the headline game of the 26 on the card for tonight, but as you know, I’m looking down the board for my college basketball best bets today.

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Here are two college basketball best bets for today.

Odds from DraftKings Sportsbook at time of publish.

Kent State Golden Flashes at Ohio Bobcats (-3.5, 147)

7 p.m. ET

A MAC East matchup between Kent State and Ohio caught my eye for today. Kent State’s defensive numbers have gotten a boost recently, as they shut down Buffalo, Western Michigan, and Northern Illinois, holding those three teams to 13-of-66 from 3 during the current 3-game winning streak, but I’m not buying it.

Those three teams rank 347th, 329th, and 314th per Bart Torvik. Ohio is the top offense in the conference and a much better team. The Bobcats won 71-64 at Kent State earlier this season and have only lost to Akron and Toledo since the early part of January.

This will be Kent State’s sixth road game in MAC play. They’ve played Eastern Michigan, Central Michigan, Northern Illinois, Bowling Green, and Buffalo. Those are five of the worst teams in this conference. They’ve shot 45.7% from 3 in those five games and are still just 3-2. In three of those five games, they allowed at least 1.139 points per possession and over one PPP in the loss to Eastern Michigan.

This will easily be the best opponent on the road to this point for Kent State and I expect them to struggle. In three games against Toledo, Akron, and Ohio, Kent State has lost all of them and those are the three best teams in the conference. In those games, they’ve allowed 1.237, 1.195, and 1.031 points per possession.

Pick: Ohio -3.5

Saint Louis Billikens at Duquesne Dukes (-9, 152)

7 p.m. ET

A-10 action in Pittsburgh features Saint Louis and Duquesne, as the Billikens have found some offense of late. They’ve scored 1.345, 1.080, and 1.173 points per possession in their last three games. It has been a long season for Travis Ford’s bunch, as they’ve struggled for the most part defensively and the offense has come and gone. They don’t force a lot of turnovers, so extra possessions are hard to come by, which requires some good shooting rates.

Sincere Parker has taken over in those three games with 33, 34, and 30. He missed nearly two months of the season and seems to be getting more and more comfortable with each passing game. He had 33 points in 18 minutes against La Salle 13 days ago and 34 points in 27 minutes against Saint Joseph’s.

With Parker rolling and the Saint Louis offense reaping the benefits, I like them catching points here because Duquesne’s offense is underwhelming. The Dukes are actually 15th in adjusted offensive efficiency in conference play, as they rank 12th in 3P% and 11th in 2P%. They also turn the ball over a lot.

On defense, they are 15th in ORB% against, while Saint Louis ranks a little better than average in the conference. I just don’t see enough offensive efficiency from the Dukes to cover this kind of number and the extra possession potential for SLU when they don’t often get them is enticing.

Pick: Saint Louis +9

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