College Basketball Best Bets & Player Props Today: Expert Picks for Thursday (Nov. 20)

The Baha Mar Championship doubleheader from Nassau, Bahamas, gives college basketball fans an early look into what Feast Week will be like next week. It's also the focus of my college basketball best bets and player props today.

The two games in the Bahamas feature two of the top teams in the country, No. 1 Purdue and No. 15 Texas Tech, looking to flex their muscles against unranked opponents. Elsewhere, I make my best ATS play on one of the Boardwalk Battle games in Daytona Beach while also expecting a shootout in a late tipoff out west.

🏀 College basketball best bets & player props: Nov. 20

See all of our experts' college basketball picks based on the latest college basketball odds.

💰 College basketball expert picks today

🐾 UIC vs. High Point prediction: High Point -8.5 (-110) ⭐⭐⭐⭐

I am not letting one poor half change my opinion on a High Point team that is very likely to run through the Big South Conference and earn another decent seed in the NCAA Tournament for a second straight season.

The Panthers led UAB by three points at halftime on the road last Friday before allowing the Blazers to shoot 63.3% in the second half en route to being outscored 22-10 over the game’s final five minutes.

High Point’s advantage over most teams will be its ball security, as it combines a top-six turnover rate (10.5%) with a defense that forces turnovers at a top-20 rate (23.7%). That should expose a UIC offense that ranks 299th in turnover rate this season.

While High Point is an 8.5-point betting favorite across the market, bet365 is the only one of our best sports betting sites where one can lay the points at the standard -110 juice. That price implies a 52.38% probability and would net $9.09 in profits on a winning $10 wager.

Looking for an underdog to bet in college basketball? Check out Shane Thurston's Rider vs. Houston prediction.

⬆️ Saint Joseph’s vs. UNLV prediction: Over 159.5 (-110) ⭐⭐⭐⭐

I am buying low on Saint Joseph’s offense, as it enters having lost its first two games of a three-game road trip. The Hawks were obliterated by a well-coached Mike Young Virginia Tech team, while familiarity got the best of them in their last game against Penn - new head coach Steve Donahue’s first game against his former school.

Donahue’s offense, which is initiated frequently by hand-offs and involves constant cutting, is less familiar to Josh Pastner’s UNLV squad. The Hawks should take advantage of a Runnin’ Rebels defense that allows opponents to score 26% of their points at the free-throw line (a bottom-50 D-I rate). 

On the other side, UNLV has the second-highest 2-point percentage (66%) and faces a Hawks team without a solid rim-protector that allows opponents to score inside the arc at a top-60 rate.

FanDuel’s -110 price at 52.38% implied odds would return $9.09 in profits on a $10 wager if the Over cashes.

⛹️ College basketball player props today

⬇️ Oscar Cluff, C, Purdue: Under 9.5 rebounds (-110) ⭐⭐⭐

Memphis has struggled to a 1-2 start, and head coach Penny Hardaway hinted at the likelihood of his team’s early-season struggles when acknowledging one of the only things it did well in the offseason was press.

While Purdue’s last two opponents (Alabama and Akron) do not press as often as Memphis, the fact that each ranks in the top 45 in adjusted tempo made for great preparation for a Tigers team that ranks 30th in pace.

While Oscar Cluff is coming off a season-high 14 rebounds, that was against an Akron team that allowed high offensive rebounding rates of 51% to Saint Mary’s and 46% to Arizona in its two biggest nonconference matchups last year. 

Memphis has the frontcourt to match Cluff’s physicality, and its pressing nature may have Boilermakers head coach Matt Painter going with smaller lineups more often tonight.

If Cluff finishes with nine or fewer rebounds for the second time in five games, my $10 winning wager would net $9.09 in profits.

⬇️ Bryce Hopkins, F, St. John’s: Under 0.5 3-pointers made (+105) ⭐⭐⭐⭐

I feel compelled to take a flier on Bryce Hopkins’ plus-money odds to finish the game without making a 3-pointer, as the St. John’s forward is just 1-for-8 from 3-point range on the season.

The Red Storm rank in the bottom 35 of D-I as a team in 3-point attempts per field-goal attempt (30.9%) and should attack the rim with reckless abandon against a Bucknell defense that allows opponents to score 21% of their points from the free-throw line.

With St. John’s playing back-to-back games next Monday and Tuesday against KenPom top 25 teams, there is also a chance that Hopkins plays fewer minutes in preparation for the Players Era Festival.

bet365’s +105 odds carry a 48.78% implied probability and would return $10.50 in profits for every $10 won in wagers.

Our Shane Thurston breaks down this entire matchup in his Bucknell vs. St. John’s prediction.