College Basketball Winning Parlays For The Weekend (Jan 14 -15)
No. 9 Florida State at No. 11 North Carolina
The game of the day is from the ACC with a 2 p.m. ET tip on ESPN. And I believe it’s a huge letdown game for the Seminoles. They won a school-record 12th straight game Tuesday night with an 88-72 thumping of No. 7 Duke. It was FSU’s first game playing as a Top-10 team since 1993. Xavier Rathan-Mayes scored 18 of his 21 points in the second half to lead the way. Florida State’s reserves outscored their counterparts 21-4, and the Seminoles enjoyed a 56-28 scoring advantage inside. “We’re not trying to be philosophical on where we are right now,” Coach Leonard Hamilton said. “We’re 4-0 in the ACC, but we don’t want to get drunk on our success.” Florida State now has three straight wins against ranked ACC foes after knocking off Duke. Up next? Three more ranked opponents. The Noles have size, depth, and they’ve been known for their defense under Leonard Hamilton, but now they finally have the offense to go with it. Beating overrated Duke in Tallahassee is one thing. Winning at Chapel Hill against the defending ACC champion Tar Heels is another. North Carolina has scored at least 100 points five times this season. The Heels haven’t done that in a single season since 2008-09, when they won the national championship. FSU lost the lone meeting with UNC last year 106-90. Go Tar Heels here.Oklahoma State at No. 2 Kansas
Big 12 game at 2 p.m. ET on ESPN2. The Jayhawks could be poised to go to No. 1 in the polls following Baylor’s loss on Tuesday. Also that night, KU rallied to beat Oklahoma 81-70. Frank Mason scored 19 second-half points — 28 overall — in the comeback over Big 12 cellar-dwelling Oklahoma. KU trailed by nine points — 36-27 — after 20 minutes after OU outscored KU 24-6 over the last nine minutes of the first half. But Mason erupted for 15 points and Svi Mykhailiuk nine in a 29-11 run to start the second half that opened a 56-47 KU lead with 12:11 to play. Freshman guard Josh Jackson, who had four points and no rebounds the first half, had 12 points and four boards during the final half. It was Bill Self’s 400th career win at Kansas. OSU is one of the Big 12’s worst teams and is 0-3 vs. ranked foes this year, getting blown out twice. The Cowboys are one of the nation’s worst defensive clubs. Also, Oklahoma State is currently ranked second to last in Division I with 24.8 personal fouls a game. Go KU at home.No. 21 Saint Mary’s at No. 5 Gonzaga
Assuming it beats a mediocre Loyola Marymount team on Thursday, Gonzaga will be the only unbeaten school left in the nation when it takes the court Saturday against WCC rival Saint Mary’s. This game tips at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN2 and is one of the best mid-major rivalries in the country. The Zags certainly would have a case to move to No. 1 for the second time in school history with a win. Gonzaga already has wins over ranked teams Florida, Iowa State and Arizona. Gonzaga is the highest-scoring team in the conference averaging 85.5 points a game despite not having a player rank any higher than 10th among the conference scoring leaders. Seven different players have led GU in scoring in a game this season. Six different players have led in rebounds. SMC could use an upset to boost its NCAA Tournament resume. The Gaels’ 120 points per 100 possessions is the highest offensive efficiency in the WCC. If anyone can knock off Gonzaga, it’s the Gaels. But I like the Zags here for a home sweep on the parlay bets.