College Basketball Bets
Limited betting opportunities line the January 26 college basketball card, as we have a small number of games on the schedule. A couple of the games are bangers with Arizona vs. BYU and Louisville vs. Duke, but we’ve got a lot of small-conference clashes otherwise, except for a random Penn State vs. Ohio State game thrown in the mix.
Travel troubles and other issues have definitely thrown the college basketball landscape for a loop, so keep an eye on any bad situational spots or odd one-off road trips that are on the horizon based on the revamped schedule.
For more college basketball best bets today, check out Greg Peterson’s daily article and Tyler Shoemaker’s TSI Projections/Best Bets on weekdays.
As always, I want to give a shout-out to Bart Torvik (BartTorvik.com), Erik Haslam (Haslametrics.com), and KenPom, as they provide a lot of great data.
This season, we’ve also connected with CBBAnalytics.com to access their data and I’ll be working that into my article. Use promo code VSIN for $30 off at CBB Analytics and find your betting edge.
This article will run Monday-Saturday. Lines will be from DraftKings, as they are widely available to readers. Shop around for the best prices.
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 (DraftKings) and Circa CBB Betting Splits a look for these or any other college basketball games today have your interest.
Odds from DraftKings Sportsbook at time of publish.
Central Connecticut Blue Devils (-3.5, 135.5) at Stonehill Skyhawks
7 p.m. ET
Central Connecticut State heads to Stonehill, MA for a rematch of the game played back on Jan. 8 between these two teams. That was a 76-69 win for Central Connecticut, so it sure seems like the spread on this game makes sense in light of transpired in the first meeting. However, I would argue the opposite.
Stonehill was just 17-of-35 on shot attempts at the rim per Torvik’s box score. They were 8-of-22 from 3, so they had more volume than the Blue Devils, who were 6-of-14, but didn’t knock down enough shots. They’re at home now and Central Connecticut, who had won four in a row, has dropped their last two games to Mercyhurst and Fairleigh Dickinson, allowing 1.284 and 1.295 points per possession in those games.
In the first game, Central Connecticut was 10-of-14 at the rim, as they were +13 in free throw makes and +13 in free throw attempts, making up the difference in the ballgame, but a lot of that had to do with late-game fouling. From a shot selection standpoint, Stonehill is vastly better. They had a Rim & 3 Rate in the first game of 95%, even if they were inefficient making said shots. They also had 11 offensive rebounds to six for the Blue Devils.
So, not only will I take Stonehill +4.5 here, I’m also looking at the Over 135.5. The first game was played to 66 possessions and still got to 145 points, even with the mediocre shooting numbers for Stonehill. The Skyhawks’ last three games have landed 119, 124, and 129, hence the drop on the total here, but we just saw these two teams a couple weeks ago go Over that and Central Connecticut’s poor defensive performances in the last three games coupled with the No. 1 eFG% offense and No. 2 3P% in the conference point me towards the Over.
Picks: Stonehill +3.5; Over 135.5
