Top 3 College Basketball Odds, Picks & Predictions: Friday (11/15)
The headliner for tonight's slate features the Alabama Crimson Tide taking on the Purdue Boilermakers. Who has the advantage in this top-15 matchup? Other huge games feature the Arizona Wildcats traveling to take on the Wisconsin Badgers and the Ohio State Buckeyes battling the Texas A&M Aggies. What do I expect from each of those games?
Here are the best college basketball picks for Friday, November 15.
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Friday’s Best College Basketball Bets
(Odds courtesy of FanDuel Sportsbook)
Alabama vs. Purdue
The biggest game of Friday night features the Crimson Tide traveling to West Lafayette to take on the Boilermakers. Both teams are 3-0 to start the season, but they're both untested thus far.
The Crimson Tide have won two of their three games by single digits, yet they're still 2.5-point road favorites against the Boilermakers. The Boilermakers have yet to play a game away from Mackey Arena and have won two of their three games by at least 17 points.
I always hate picking against the spread in a game like this so early in the season. We don't know if either team is any good yet, and the preseason hype may be skewing our opinions of both. But the one thing that has come through early in the season is each team's ability to score. The Crimson Tide are averaging 90 points per game, while the Boilermakers are averaging 84.7. Both teams are allowing fewer than 70 per contest, but that comes down to competition. Look for both teams to get into the 80s tonight in a back-and-forth contest.
Pick: Over 163 Points (-110)
Arizona vs. Wisconsin
The Wildcats are traveling to the Kohl Center to take on the 3-0 Badgers. The story here is much the same as the story with the Alabam vs. Purdue game. Neither of these teams has been tested this season. The Wildcats are outscoring their opponents by 43.5 points per game, while the Badgers' margin is 22.4 points.
Yet, even with this game being played in Wisconsin, I like the Wildcats here. Caleb Love leads the team with 27 points. He's one of four Wildcats averaging double figures. In all, the Wildcats have seven players averaging at least 9.0 per game early in the season.
Behind Tobe Awaka, the Wildcats are going to dominate the glass, as their size proves to be too much for a Wisconsin team that has seen nothing like them early in the season. John Tonje and Max Klesmit will keep this close. Ultimately, though, the Wildcats will not only come away with the win but also cover the spread.
Pick: Arizona -5.5 (-110)
Ohio State vs. Texas A&M
Unlike every other team I've talked about in this article, the Buckeyes have been tested early in the season. They passed that test with flying colors, defeating the Texas Longhorns 80-72 in the first game of the year.
In that contest, the Buckeyes shot 45% from the floor while holding the Longhorns to just 36.8% from the field. They knocked down 14 of their 28 three-point attempts. If it hadn't been for the Longhorns shooting 20 free throws, the game likely would have been a blowout.
The Aggies have already lost a game this season, dropping their first contest of the season 64-61 at UCF. They've rebounded from that performance with wins over Lamar and East Texas A&M. Even though they won each of those games by at least 26 points, they don't mean nearly as much as their performance against UCF. Getting three buckets for a team that has already proven themselves this season is a lot.
Pick: Ohio State +6.5 (-110)
Phil Wood is a featured writer at BettingPros. For more from Phil, check out his archive and follow him @Phil_Wood_Jr.