Top College Basketball Picks for Thursday, January 13 (2022)

We’ve swept the board two straight days this week. It’ll be hard to continue this pace up, but I sure as heck hope I can tonight as well. I’m feeling confident with my selections, but I’m not going to lie. I’m going with a few riskier plays today.

Let’s get right to it. Here are my favorite bets for Thursday, January 13.

All odds via BettingPros consensus

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Butler vs. Georgetown: Georgetown -114

(7:00 PM ET tip)

If you’ve been following me throughout this college basketball season, you’d know I love to fade the Butler Bulldogs. Even with Georgetown, I’m going to fade them.

Georgetown will be playing a home game against Butler without head coach Patrick Ewing. But that still doesn’t bother me. The numbers essentially favor Georgetown, and getting the Hoyas at home is enough for me. The Hoyas are shooting 38 percent from downtown on the season and should have success on the offensive glass against Butler.

If Butler can’t perform on the defensive glass, it will be hard for them to get stops.

Oakland vs. Cleveland State: Oakland +1.5 (-110)

(7:00 PM ET tip)

The Oakland Grizzlies have won four straight games, and each one of those games has been an absolute blowout. Oakland even played Michigan State before that win streak and only lost by 12. This team is legitimate, and now they’ll take on a Cleveland State team that is about to find that out.

Cleveland State is shooting an effective field goal percentage of 51.7 percent and continues to dominate inside by shooting 53.8 percent from inside the arc. But Cleveland State hasn’t faced a team like Oakland in conference play yet. Oakland has been solid defensively, holding teams to a 47.6 percent effective field goal percentage.

Also, Cleveland State lives off the foul line, but Oakland rarely fouls teams to the line. The advantage here goes to Oakland. Offensively, they’ve been solid inside, and offensive rebounding should be easy against Cleveland State.

Georgia State vs. South Alabama: South Alabama -125

(9:00 PM ET tip)

The South Alabama Jaguars have been hit with COVID. So now the line for South Alabama is -125 instead of like -250.

At this point, there’s real value on South Alabama, playing a conference game, at home, against Georgia State, on ESPN2 at 9 pm.

Essentially, South Alabama is the much better team. I can’t figure out who is exactly out, but the coach of South Alabama says that the team is close to full strength at this point.

It’s not like South Alabama is very deep to begin with. As long as the Jaguars have their starting five, this team will be just fine. Georgia State is shooting a 46.4 percent effective field goal percentage while only hitting 41.3 percent from inside the arc.

Meanwhile, South Alabama dominates inside, scoring 52.9 percent of shots inside the arc and have an effective field goal percentage of 51.3 percent. This year, Georgia State has been really bad defensively, especially defending the three. Look for South Alabama to take more three-point shots and then follow up the misses with offensive rebounds and second chances.

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Jason Radowitz is a featured writer at BettingPros. For more from Jason, check out his archive and follow him @Jason_Radowitz.