College Basketball Best Bets Today:
Three games are on the college basketball slate for Wednesday, as we have the title game in the CBI and two more quarterfinals in the NIT. Games tip at 5 p.m., 7 p.m., and 9 p.m. ET, so they are perfectly spaced out and timed so that you can take in all of the action. Now that we’re deeper into the “other” postseason tournaments, teams are out there to win, so we should get better efforts on both ends of the floor than what we’ve seen in some earlier games.
Obviously, and rightly so, everybody is excited for Thursday night and the start of the Sweet 16, but any night with college hoops is a chance to dig into the card and try to pick out a winner.
It’s a great time to sign up as a VSiN Pro subscriber, which you can become for the low cost of $9.99 for the first month. We have previews of every NCAA Tournament game coming your way as things progress.
Tracking sheet is here. 2023-24 for reference is here.
This article will run every day with CBB games through the end of the season. 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.
UAB Blazers at UC Irvine Anteaters (-4.5, 158.5)
9 p.m. ET
The Blazers will wrap up nearly a week in California no matter what tonight. Win and they go to Indianapolis for the NIT semifinals. Lose and they head home to Birmingham. They have a tall task here against UC Irvine, as the Anteaters have shrunk a little bit as a home favorite here, but are still the clear favorite.
It is the favorite that I like in this matchup as well. UAB has two strong bigs in Yaxel Lendeborg and Christian Coleman, who have combined for 430 shot attempts at the rim, including 76 dunks. UC Irvine ranks second in the nation in 2P% defense, leads the nation in FG% defense on Close Twos, and 54th in shot share against on those attempts. This is an Anteaters defense led by Bent Leuchten and Kyle Evans that has extreme height and reach down low.
Russ Turner’s defense has funneled teams into the mid-range as a result and UAB is not a particularly good jump shooting team. They are shooting just 32.7% on Farther Twos as defined by Torvik. They are shooting above the national average at 34.4% from 3, but only have a 3P Rate of 29.3%, which is 353rd in the nation. They don’t want to shoot 3s. They want to get to the rim. But, that should be a bit tougher against UC Irvine, a team that is also very responsible on the defensive glass.
Offensively, UCI was hurt by a high TO% this season, but UAB is 301st in the nation in TO%, so they’re unlikely to take advantage. The Anteaters are a top-100 offense on 3-pointers, shooting 35.4%, and are also second in the nation in FT% at 81%. That should come into play if this game is hovering around the spread.
This is the sixth game in 12 days for UAB and not a single one of them has been at home. After playing a 75-possession game against Santa Clara, I can’t help but wonder if the gas tank is approaching ‘E’ for the Blazers as well.
Pick: UC Irvine -4.5
