The NCAA men’s basketball season continues to wait for a dominant team to show up. Four top-ranked teams have lost in the first six weeks of the 2019-20 campaign, with Louisville becoming the most recent to do so, losing to Texas Tech on Tuesday in the Jimmy V Classic. Ohio State looked like it would be the next #1, but then they got routed by Minnesota on the road Sunday night, as conference play has already begun in the Big 12. Kansas and Gonzaga look like the next two likely teams, but Kansas has already lost to Duke this season. The Jayhawks did win the Maui Invitational just before Thanksgiving. Gonzaga got undressed by Michigan at the Battle 4 Atlantis, but they have won at Washington at Arizona since. We have a couple of quality picks from the college basketball betting matchups, as you look to add to your holiday shopping funds.
Top College Basketball Betting Picks of the Week – December 16th Edition
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Tuesday, December 17th
Miami (FL) vs Temple (in New York City) (9:30 pm ET, ESPNU)
The Hurricanes definitely need to amp up their game ahead of their ACC schedule. They got drilled at home by 25 by Connecticut before winning at Illinois and then routing Alabama A&M, 88-74, at home on Saturday. In that win, Kameron McGusty led the way with 21 points. However, the Hurricanes struggled for much of the game to put away a team that had lost its first five contests by 29 points per game. McGusty put up seven points in a 10-0 run that began with 3:50 left in the second half. Dejan Vasiljevic scored 17 points, going five for six from downtown, and Chris Lykes had 13 points. Harlond Beverly and Sam Waardenburg also hit double figures. Hurricanes coach Jim Larranaga missed the game due to back spasms, which may have contributed to the team’s sloppy defense — the team allowed 51 percent shooting from Alabama A&M.
Now Miami heads to the Big Apple to take on the Temple Owls, winners of four of five since they lost to then-#5 Maryland. Since then, they have beaten Texas A&M, Davidson and St. Joseph’s while losing to Missouri. Their most recent game was a 108-61 shellacking of St. Joseph’s in which Jake Forrester scored a career-best 17 points to lead an Owls team that had five players in double figures. Forrester went 8 for 8 from the floor, and Quinton Rose chipped in 14 points, while Nate Pierre-Louis scored a dozen. On the night, Temple won the battle of the boards, 51-25, and shot 63 percent from the floor. Can they keep that energy against an underperforming Miami team? We say yes.
College Basketball Betting Prediction: Temple 81, Miami (FL) 72
Wednesday, December 18th
North Carolina at Gonzaga (9:00 pm ET, ESPN2)
It’s not often that I write about North Carolina losing three in a row, but here we are. The Tar Heels have had injury woes, which explains their losses to Ohio State and Virginia, but fails to explain how they fell to Wofford at home. This was actually the second time Wofford had won at North Carolina in the last three seasons, but injuries clearly played a role. Cole Anthony (right knee) and Leaky Black (right foot) left two starters on the bench. North Carolina was a 12-point favorite even with those injuries, but Wofford went on a run in the second half in which they sank four three-balls while North Carolina clanked ten shots in a row. The Tar Heels actually led by four at halftime and got 17 points and 12 boards from Garrison Brooks, and 16 points from Brandon Robinson, but they had no answer for Wofford’s outside shooting after the intermission.
Things don’t get any easier for the Tar Heels as they head to Gonzaga. The Bulldogs followed up that rout by Michigan with wins over Texas Southern and then at Washington and Arizona. That win in the desert came on Saturday night, and it featured some adversity as Gonzaga breezed to a 15-point lead in the second half before Gonzaga’s shots stopped going in, and ball security became an issue. The Arizona crowd went nuts, but Gonzaga was able to hold on, thanks to 18 points from Corey Kispert and 16 from Filip Petrusev. Given the injuries plaguing North Carolina, it’s hard to see them winning, especially on the road.
College Basketball Betting Prediction: Gonzaga 80, North Carolina 70
