Three College Hoops Predictions
Looking for value in Thursday night’s college basketball slate? Here are three ATS predictions for tonight, including one for Cincinnati and Houston.
No. 5 Cincinnati at Houston, 7:00 p.m. ET, CBSN
According to oddsmakers from online sports book YouWager, the Bearcats are a 3-point favorite after hitting the board at -3.5. There was a moment on Thursday morning when the line got down to 2.5 but the spread jumped back up to 3 and has settled in.
Houston presents matchup problems for Cincinnati. The Cougars held an 18-point led the first times these two teams met, but eventually fell 80-70 after blowing a 33-15 lead in the first half. With Jacob Evans struggling for Cincinnati (he’s scored a combined 12 points on 3-of-13 shooting the past two games) and the home team covering in four of the last five meetings between these two teams, I see value in the home dog here.
College Basketball Prediction: Houston Cougars +3
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No. 8 Ohio State at Penn State, 8:00 p.m. ET, Big Ten Network
The line for this game opened as a pick’em but despite 68% of the betting tickets are the Buckeyes, the Nittany Lions are now 1.5-point favorites. I do feel like I’m playing with fire a little given how Ohio State is 9-1 straight up and 7-3 against the spread in its last 10 games. Still, the Nittany Lions are 5-1 at the betting window in their last six games overall, are 5-1 against the number in their last six conference games, and have covered six straight home games when facing a team with a winning road record. Oh, and PSU hit a buzzer-beater against Ohio State last month in what was one of the best Big Ten games of the season.
College Basketball Prediction: Penn State -1.5
Arizona at Arizona State, 9:00 p.m. ET, ESPN
Our College Basketball Public Betting Page shows that only 52% of the betting tickets wagered at online sportsbooks are on the Wildcats but the line jumped the fence anyway. After Arizona State opened as a 1-point home favorite, the Sun Devils are now 1-point home dogs. The line reached as high as Arizona -2 at one point Thursday morning before coming back down.
The Sun Devils have lost five straight games against the Wildcats and have zero chance of slowing down Arizona’s 7-foot-1 center Deandre Ayton, who posted 23 points and 19 rebounds in the first meeting between these two teams. Arizona’s defense is slooooowly improving as well, so I’ll lay the point on the road favorite.
College Basketball Prediction: Arizona Wildcats -1