College Basketball Betting Picks For Tuesday Include Big East Road Dog With A Lot To Prove
We returned Monday with some college basketball betting picks after a short break. Unfortunately, we posted another losing day. We're in a bit of a rut, but there's only one way out...
College Basketball Betting Picks Recap, January 22 (1-2)
Northwestern State (+6) over Southeastern Louisiana ❌
Hofstra (-3.5) over Stony Brook ✅
Bethune-Cookman (+1.5) over Arkansas Pine-Bluff ❌
2024 record: 28-34-5 (45%)
College Basketball Betting Picks, January 23
Advanced data courtesy Ken Pom and Team Rankings.
Georgetown (+3.5) over Butler
These two teams met at Butler over a month ago and Butler won by 10. Since then, the Bulldogs have lost five of their past seven games, with three coming on the road. Georgetown's story isn't much better, but they are stronger at home.
These teams are both 8-10 ATS this year, but Georgetown is 6-4 as an underdog, while Butler hasn't been a road favorite yet this season. There's a reason for that.
Georgtown is on my college basketball betting card for Tuesday. (Sam Greene/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK)
Georgetown can pound the offensive glass and should find success in the paint against Butler. That will allow G'Town to keep it close enough to cover the spread.
Ball State (-1.5) over Buffalo
Ball State rates quite a bit better than Buffalo in all predictive metrics. They shoot better, they defend better and they take care of the basketball better. The Bulls are horrible from three (25%) and average four more turnovers per game than assists.
The Cardinals aren't great, but they do shoot 37% from three and 76% from the free throw line. That's what we want in a road favorite playing a bad team. Ball State rarely fouls, which mitigates the fact that Buffalo shoots decent from the charity stripe.
San Diego (+3.5) over Portland
Offensively, these teams are quite close. But San Diego separates on the defensive end, allowing opponents to shoot 3% lower than Portland does. Defense travels, so we want strong defense in road underdogs.
Additionally, San Diego creates turnovers, another good marker in a road underdog. That does lead to some fouling but Portland is just average at making free throws (50%). Both of these teams are struggling of late so this should be a closely-contested one where we'll take the points.
Boise State (-5.5) over Fresno State
This line is somewhat surprising given that Boise is a tournament-quality team and Fresno State sits outside the top 215. These teams have four common opponents: San Francisco, San Jose St., Nevada and San Diego State. Boise beat all four. Fresno beat one of them with the average score of those games at Fresno -15.
Two of those teams (San Jose and Nevada) Boise defeated on the road. Plus, Boise has covered five of the last seven against Fresno dating back to 2019. Fresno is atrocious from the free-throw line (65%), which should allow Boise to play tight defense without fear of fouling.
Air Force (+12) over UNLV
Air Force isn't very good, but the Falcons shockingly have a better offensive and defensive effective field goal percentage than UNLV. They share the ball well, averaging over 15 assists/game. The generate more steals and more blocks than UNLV, too, without fouling much more.
That's it for me, good luck with your college basketball betting picks tonight!