Top 3 College Basketball Odds, Picks & Predictions: Friday (2/7)

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Tonight's schedule features a major top-25 matchup in the Big East. The red-hot St. John's Red Storm will travel to Storrs to take on the UConn Huskies. Who has the advantage in that game?

Meanwhile, in the Atlantic 10, the Dayton Flyers will look to pull off an upset of the VCU Rams. In the Big 10, the Purdue Boilermakers will look to take care of business against the USC Trojans.

Here are the best college basketball picks for Friday, February 7th.

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St. John's vs. UConn

Both the Red Storm and Huskies are coming off wins against the Marquette Golden Eagles entering this game. And while the win is equally as impressive for both teams, the victory solidified the Red Storm as one of the hottest teams in college basketball right now. They've won nine consecutive games and are now 20-3 on the season, outscoring opponents by 13.8 points per game.

Things haven't been so smooth for the Huskies. They've won three of their last five, but one of those victories was a two-point overtime win over the 10-13 Butler Bulldogs. They led from wire-to-wire against the Golden Eagles, but even after shooting 19.8% better than them from the field, they were up just six with about two minutes remaining. Why? Because they turned the ball over 25 times.

The Red Storm aren't a great shooting team, knocking down just 45.2% of their field goals. But they are great on the glass and are averaging 9.4 steals per game. This game being played in the Gampel Pavilion gives the Huskies a huge advantage. But even if the Huskies win, I expect the Red Storm to cover this small spread.

Pick: St. John's +3.5 (-110)

VCU vs. Dayton

The Flyers struggled through the early stages of conference play, posting a 1-3 record in their first four games against Atlantic 10 opponents. However, they've figured things out of late and have won five of their six games against conference foes. 

Meanwhile, the Rams have rolled through conference play, winning eight of their last nine games, and winning their last two games by a combined 71 points. They'll get a tougher matchup tonight, but based on how they've played recently, it makes sense they're favored on the road.

That said, I'm taking the home team to pull out this victory. The Rams have struggled away from their home floor this season. They're just 3-2 in neutral site games and 3-3 in true road games. Tonight, they're entering a hostile environment and one where the Flyers defeated UConn earlier this season. Back the Flyers to win as slight underdogs.

Pick: Dayton Moneyline (+105)

USC vs. Purdue

The Boilermakers have scored at least 81 points in three consecutive games. They now face a defense allowing 72.6 points per game. The Trojans have allowed at least 82 points in two of their last five games and just allowed the Northwestern Wildcats to score 77 against them on Tuesday.

The Boilermakers are favored by 13.5 points. While I do like them to cover that spread, they've won their last two games by single digits. Therefore, I think the safer play is to take the Boilermakers to keep up their high-scoring ways in a favorable matchup. After all, they're averaging 78.2 points per game. They've proven numerous times this season they can take advantage of weak defenses.

My biggest concern with this game is that the Boilermakers lead by so much that they drain the shot clock for a large portion of the second half and the slow pace impacts their total. However, the Trojans tend to keep games close even when they lose. Even if they fail to cover the spread in this game, they'll keep it close until late in the game.

Pick: Purdue Team Total Over 79.5 Points (-110)

Make sure to check out our other best bets for Friday:

Phil Wood is a featured writer at BettingPros. For more from Phil, check out his archive and follow him @Phil_Wood_Jr.