Last week was a rough one for North Carolina as the Heels were shockingly destroyed at home by Ohio State in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge and also lost stellar freshman center Armando Bacot for a while to an ankle injury suffered in that game. The 6-foot-10 Bacot was averaging 11.7 points and 9.6 boards. Here are two intriguing College basketball betting matchups around the country this week. Check back for Mybookie NCAAB odds.
Top College Basketball Betting Picks of the Week – December 9th Edition
Texas Tech vs. No. 1 Louisville
- When: Tuesday, 7 PM ET
- TV: ESPN
- Live Stream: WatchESPN
This is part of the Jimmy V Classic at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The Jimmy V Classic is named in honor of late NC State coach Jim Valvano and his V Foundation for Cancer Research. He is the older brother of Louisville radio broadcaster Bob Valvano. Louisville and Texas Tech have never played each other before.
Texas Tech is the defending national runner-up but is in a bit of a rebuilding stage and enters with a 5-3 record and three straight losses. The Red Raiders have been off since a 65-60 overtime defeat at a good DePaul team last Wednesday. It’s Tech’s first three-game non-conference losing streak since the 2012-13 season.
Terrence Shannon, Jr. scored a career-high 24 points on 9-for-18 shooting and also had eight rebounds for TTU, but a Jalen Coleman-Lands 3-pointer for DePaul to end regulation sent the game to overtime and two more from him in overtime proved to be too much in the loss. Davide Moretti, who is now 24-for-25 from the free-throw line this season, scored 10 points that included going 7-for-8 from the line against the Blue Demons. Moretti, who led the nation at 92.4 percent (97 of 105) from the free-throw line last season, has scored in double figures in seven of eight games this season and in 34 during his career.
The big question for this one is whether TTU will have leading scorer Jahmi’us Ramsey, who has missed the past two games with a hamstring injury. The freshman is averaging 17.3 points and TTU’s offense has struggled without him.
Why Louisville should be your College Basketball Betting Pick?
Louisville is 9-0 following Friday’s 64-46 win over Pittsburgh. The Cardinals have won their first nine games for the first time since 2014-15, when they were victorious in 11 straight to begin the year. UofL has won 160 straight games when holding the opposition under 50 points.The game before that, Louisville held No. 4 Michigan to just 43 points It marks the first time the Cardinals have held their opponent under 50 in consecutive games since the 2014-15 season when it allowed 26 to Savannah State (Nov. 24, 2014) and 33 to Cleveland State (Nov. 26, 2014). Louisville has held opponents under 40 percent shooting 69 times over the last six years, including seven times in nine games this season.
No. 4 Michigan at Illinois
- When: Wednesday, 9 PM ET
- TV: Big Ten Network
- Live Stream: BTN+
Michigan is going to fall a few spots from No. 4 in the new polls on Monday after getting beaten soundly at No. 1 Louisville 58-43 last Tuesday. The Wolverines did bounce back with a 103-91 home win over Iowa on Friday in their Big Ten opener.
Michigan reached the 100-point mark for the second time in as many home games, marking the first time it scored 100 points two times in a season since 2015-16. The Wolverines had six players, including all five starters, reach double digits for the first time since Jan. 6, 2018, against Illinois. Freshman Franz Wagner scored a career-best 18 points. The Wolverines made a season-high 29 free throws in 34 attempts. As a team, Michigan pulled down 38 rebounds with 12 offensive boards that led to 13 second-chance points.
Michigan’s opponents are averaging 4.9 (39 total) three-pointers per game and shooting 29.1 percent from long range. The Wolverines has held an opponent to five three-pointers or fewer in four games.
Why Illinois should be your College Basketball Betting Pick?
Illinois opened conference play on Saturday with a 59-58 loss at No. 3 Maryland on Saturday. Anthony Cowan Jr. hit a tying 3-pointer in the final 20 seconds and a go-ahead free throw with 2.1 seconds left as Maryland rallied from a 15-point deficit. Cowan collected a steal in the closing seconds of a tie game and was fouled in a scrum by guard Andres Feliz. Cowan made the first free throw and missed the second. Illinois failed to get a shot off in the remaining time.
The Illini are 0-2 vs. ranked teams this year, also losing at then-No. 21 Arizona 90-69 on Nov. 10. The Illini’s last win over a ranked team was a 68-66 victory over then-No. 20 Iowa on March 10, 2016. The Illini’s last victory on a Top 25 team’s home court was a 66-63 win at No. 24 Iowa on March 8, 2014, courtesy of a Jon Ekey 3-pointer with :00.5 left. It has been more than 30 years since Illinois last defeated a Top-5 team on the road, a 70-67 win by the Flyin’ Illini at No. 3 Indiana on March 5, 1989, thanks to a Nick Anderson 35-footer at the buzzer.
Last year, Illinois and Michigan only played once, with UM winning 79-69 in Champaign when it was ranked No. 2 in the country. Michigan led 39-34 at the half. Illinois pulled within five points at 49-44 with 13:30 left on Aaron Jordan’s 3-pointer, but it was the closest the Illini could come.
