Betting news, trends, odds and predictions from various handicappers and websites for Friday 1/18/19
Maryland won its last six games, is 6-1 in Big 14, 2-1 on road, with only loss by hoop at Purdue. Terps are turning ball over 19.2% of time in league play, but making 38.8% on arc. Ohio State lost its last three games after a 12-1 start; Buckeyes were held to 61-62 points in last two games. Maryland won four of last five games with OSU; teams split four meetings played here. Favorites are 4-1-1 vs spread in series games. Terrapins are 10-5 in last 15 games as a Big 14 road underdog, 2-0 this year; under Holtmann, OSU is 6-3 as a home favorite, 1-0 this year.
St Joe’s lost four of its last five games; their last two games were both decided by a single point. Hawks are 0-2 in A-14 road games, losing by 1-26 points. Saint Louis won its last five games, is 4-0 in A-14, winning home games by 7-3 points. Billikiens are forcing turnovers 22.1% of time in A-14 games. SLU won 11 of last 12 games with St Joe’s; underdogs covered last three series games. Hawks lost their last five trips to St Louis. Last 5+ years, St Joe’s is 21-9 as an A-14 road underdog, 1-0 this year; Billikens are 7-2 in last nine games as a home favorite.
Northwestern is 5-1 vs Rutgers in Big 14 play, winning two of three visits to the Garden State. Wildcats lost four of their last six games; they’re 1-5 in big 14 games, with only win by hoop vs Illinois. Northwestern is 0-3 in Big 14 road games, with losses by 2-26-20 points. Rutgers lost three of last four games; they’re also 1-5 in Big 14 tilts. Scarlet Knights ae shooting 45.3% inside arc in Big 14 games, 29.9% outside arc. Wildcats are 4-2 in last six games as a Big 14 road favorite; Rutgers is 10-7 in its last 17 games as a home underdog, 1-2 this year.
Buffalo held Eastern Michigan to 33.3% from floor in 74-58 win in Ypsilanti two weeks ago; Bulls led by 25 with 1:24 left to play. Buffalo won last four series games; Eagles lost their last eight visits to western NY. EMU split its first four MAC games, with both road games decided by a basket. Eagles are turning ball over 25.4% of time in MAC games. Bulls won their last five games, is 4-0 in MAC, winning home games by 30-24 points. Under Oats, Buffalo is 17-9 as a MAC home favorite, 2-0 this year; EMU covered seven of its last nine games as a road underdog.
Ohio U lost four of last six games, is 1-3 in MAC games; Bobcats are shooting 44.4% inside arc, 51.5% on foul line in MAC play- they’re 1-2 vs top 100 teams, with losses by 21-28 points. Toledo is 14-3 vs schedule #263 but split its first four MAC tilts, winning last two, by 8-12 points. Rockets won three of their last four games with Ohio; Bobcats lost three of last four visits here. Underdogs covered last three series games. Last 4+ years, Ohio is 9-17 as a MAC road underdog, 1-1 this year; Rockets are 4-7 in last 11 games as a home favorite, 1-1 this year.
Xavier is 11-7 vs schedule #52; they’re 3-2 in Big East, splitting pair of road games. Musketeers are 3-5 vs top 100 teams, 1-3 in true road games, with win at DePaul. Villanova won its last five games, winning first two Big East home games, by 5-5 points. Villanova is 10-1 vs Xavier in Big East play, winning last four meetings, all by 16+ points. Musketeers are 0-5 at Villanova, losing by 23-13-31-25-24 points. Xavier is 9-15 as a Big East road underdog, 0-1 this year; last 3+ years, Wildcats are 13-16 vs spread as home favorites, 0-2 this year.
Iona won its last nine games with Marist, winning last four series games here, by 9-22-10-13 points. Marist lost five of its last six games, is 1-3 in MAAC games, losing its only MAAC road game by 9 at St Peter’s- they’re 2-7 overall in true road games. Iona won three of its last four games after a 2-9 start; Gaels are scoring 94 ppg in MAAC games, making 48.5% of their 3-point shots. Last 5+ years, Marist is 28-20-1 vs spread as a MAAC road underdog; Gaels are 11-25 in last 36 games as a home favorite, but 2-0 this season.
A win and a push on our two ‘official’ plays in college hoops on Thursday and 3-1-2 overall with our first half totals plays, as the majority of games were pretty close to the number, including our one-point win in the Fullerton game. On a side note, the sides I’m tracking were 6-2 and depending on how Saturday goes, we could start with those plays next week.
We have just eight games on the Friday night schedule and it would be great to see about 30 or Saturday’s games move to tonight, but at least we have a few decent games on the slate for tonight. Since we only have such of a low number of games, we’ll take a quick look at each.
Maryland at Ohio State: The Buckeyes are favored by 1.5 in the first half with a total of 65.5, while I have Maryland leading at the break 31-30. It’s close to an under play, but not quite the five-point difference we want to see and as close as the numbers are to our projections, will stay away.
St. Joes at St. Louis: St. Louis is -4.5 with a total of 63 for the first half and I have the Bilikins leading 31-29 at the break.
Northwestern at Rutgers: Northwestern is -.5 with a total of 62 for the first 20 minutes and I have Rutgers leading 30-29 at the break.
EMU at Buffalo: Buffalo is -9 with a total of 70 for the first half and I have it 40-27 at halftime, so another close one on the side, but nothing happening.
Ohio at Toledo: Toledo is 4.5 with a total of 68, while I have the Rockets leading 36-31 at halftime.
Xavier at Villanova: Villanova is -5.5 with a first half total of 65.5 and I have Villanova leading 37-31 at halftime.
Marist at Iona: Iona is 3.5 with a first half total of 73.5 and I have Marist leading 34-33 at the break, so will take the first half under 73.5, although not necessarily thrilled with it, but am following the numbers and Marist also just misses as a side play, but definitely not going to stray from the 5-point difference requirement, especially when we’re looking at the typical Saturday slate tomorrow.
Saturday is going to be tough, but will do what we can, as calculating first half numbers is a little more time consuming than sides, as nothing can be copied over and instead has to be entered manually.