Best College Basketball Bets for the Weekend (Jan 14 – 15)

Posted by Michael Hunt on Thursday,January 12, 2017 8:27, EDT in

The Baylor Bears reached the top of the polls on Monday for the first time in school history. But their stay is going to last just one week after BU was blasted at West Virginia on Tuesday to become the last Power 5 conference team to lose. Can the Bears bounce back Saturday? Here are my three best college basketball betting picks for the day.

Best College Basketball Bets for the Weekend (Jan 14 – 15)

No. 1 Baylor at No. 25 Kansas State

This game is at 4:30 p.m. ET on ESPNU. The Bears were handled 89-68 at No. 10 West Virginia on Tuesday. The Bears committed a season-high 29 turnovers — the school record is 31 — and never led in its second true road game of the season. “They just took us out of everything,” Baylor coach Scott Drew said. “We weren’t overconfident. They just kicked our butt.” West Virginia started the second half with an 11-3 run and kept pouring it on, leading by as many as 26 points down the stretch. The Wildcats, meanwhile, suffered their third gut-wrenching defeat of the season 66-65 to Texas Tech on Tuesday, a result every bit as excruciating as a 69-68 loss to Maryland in November and a 90-88 loss at Kansas last week. KSU, playing as a ranked team for the first time in nearly three years, a late lead go to waste. They led 50-43 midway through the second half and 62-58 with 1 minute, 29 seconds remaining, but didn’t score again until Barry Brown hit a meaningless three-pointer at the buzzer. Baylor was 2-0 vs. K-State last year, but I like the Wildcats to win a close one this time.

Nebraska at Michigan

This game is at 2 p.m. ET on the Big Ten Network. The Huskers had a four-game winning streak end in a 74-66 home defeat to Northwestern last Sunday and have been off since. Trailing by 10 points, the Huskers scored 14 straight in less than two minutes to take a 37-33 lead into the locker room. But the Wildcats hit 11 three-pointers, including five in a critical second-half stretch, to hand Nebraska its first league loss. To make matters worse, NU forward Ed Morrow suffered a foot injury and will be out indefinitely. In 16 games as a starter this season, he is averaging 10.1 points, 7.9 rebounds and 1.5 blocks per game. He ranks sixth in the Big Ten in rebounding, seventh in blocked shots and 13th in field goal percentage. Michigan leads the country in fewest turnovers per game (9.10). U-M has had 10 or fewer turnovers in 11 games with a season-low four vs. SMU (Nov. 18). The Wolverines also have a nation best 14.1 fouls per game. Take U-M here at home.

Tennessee at Vanderbilt

SEC game at 8:30 p.m. ET on the SEC Network. The Vols got some bad news this week. Guard Detrick Mostella was dismissed from the program, leaving the Volunteers without their second-leading scorer. Mostella has been cited to court for possession of drug paraphernalia. Although Mostella had started just one game this season, the 6-foot- 1 junior was averaging 10.5 points, 3.9 rebounds and 21.5 minutes per game. He also had a team-high 26 3-pointers and was shooting 37.1 percent from 3-point range. He made 80 career appearances and six starts in three seasons for the Vols, connecting on 95 3-pointers. Mostella was a four-star prospect at La Lumiere School in La Porte, Ind., and was rated by 247Sports as the nation’s No. 43 overall prospect in the class of 2013. Vandy looks to end a two-game skid but played really well Tuesday, falling 87-81 at home to No. 6 Kentucky. Vanderbilt closed to 83-81 on Jeff Roberson’s putback with 17.9 seconds left. But the rally fizzled from there. Go Commodores here.