College Basketball Best Bets for Friday: Matchups, Odds, Picks, Predictions
Ten AP top 25 teams are in action on a loaded college basketball slate entering the weekend. We have highlighted the odds, movements, and our college basketball picks and best bets for Friday.
Second-round action gets underway on Friday after an exciting first round of games at the Charleston Classic. However, we also have our third and fourth tastes of ranked vs. ranked action on the slate, as No. 16 Virginia faces No. 5 Baylor, and No. 19 Illinois plays No. 8 UCLA, both on a neutral court at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Here are our best bets for Friday’s college basketball slate (odds via PointsBet, Caesars Sportsbook, and DraftKings Sportsbook; pick confidence based on a 1-to-5-star scale).
Friday’s College Basketball Schedule and Odds
(odds via DraftKings)
- Indiana (-150) vs. Xavier (+130)
- Baylor (-225) vs. Virginia (+190)
- Delaware vs. Duke (No Moneyline, -22)
- Southern Utah vs. Kansas (No ML, -21.5)
- Texas Southern vs. Auburn (OFF)
- UNC Wilmington vs. UConn (No ML, -18.5)
- Jacksonville State vs. Alabama (No ML, -20.5)
- UCLA (-165) vs. Illinois (+140)
Friday’s College Basketball Best Bets
- Moneyline: George Mason (-165 via BetMGM) vs. Boston College
- Spread: Michigan State -6.5 (-110 via FanDuel) vs. Villanova
- Total: Rutgers-Temple Under 133.5 (-110 via FanDuel) ★★★★
- Upset: Virginia (+190 via DraftKings) vs. Baylor ★★
- Prop Pick: Virginia Tech to win race to 20 points (OFF) vs. ★★★★
Top College Basketball Picks for Friday
Moneyline: George Mason (-165) ★★★★★
Boston College was projected to be a bottom-three ACC team with not a single vote for any individual player to make the All-Conference First Team or Second Team. Meanwhile, Prince Aligbe received just one vote for Preseason Rookie of the Year. The Eagles missed Aligbe's services in their last game, losing outright as 20.5-point favorites to Maine. However, Aligbe struggled in his first two games, averaging 8.0 points and 14 minutes per game.
Boston College got positive injury news in its last game, as DerMarr Langford (ankle) and T.J. Bickerstaff (undisclosed) were cleared to play. But Aligbe and Quinten Post (foot) are still considered day-to-day, and their absences put a damper on the Eagles' overall depth.
Thus, Boston College is not currently built to expose George Mason's lack of depth (only six players averaging more than 14 MPG), and the Patriots have shot well from deep, connecting on better than 40% of their 3-point attempts thus far.
Spread: Michigan State -6.5 (-110) ★★★★
Suddenly, the Big Ten preseason media poll that had Michigan State projected to finish fourth looks highly inaccurate. The Spartans were one shot away from knocking off Gonzaga, and they own a big neutral-court victory against Kentucky. Michigan State returns home to a raucous Breslin Center to face a Villanova team that lacks a true identity without a healthy Justin Moore or Cam Whitmore.
Those two project to be the Wildcats' best shot creators and playmakers; without them, the Wildcats have struggled to create open looks. Going 5-for-27 from 3-point range as they did against Delaware State (that was a three-point game with less than four minutes to play) will not cut it against a team as physical and effective in transition as the Spartans.
Villanova's best offensive player has been forward Eric Dixon (18.3 PPG), but there is no frontcourt depth behind him. We expect head coach Tom Izzo to use his big men's physicality to get him in foul trouble early.
Total: Temple-Rutgers Under 133.5 (-110) ★★★★
Rutgers has been without starting guard Caleb McConnell for the first three games as he continues to nurse a knee injury. Now the Scarlet Knights will likely be without starting point guard Paul Mulcahy, who injured his shoulder and was limited to nine minutes against UMass Lowell. Rutgers has struggled offensively, with a 215th-ranked effective field goal percentage against two of three opponents not ranked inside KenPom's top 300.
Now without two starters, points will be hard to come by for the Scarlet Knights. The good news is that they can rely on a top-12 defense in terms of adjusted defensive efficiency and have held opponents to just 17.2% (ninth-best in the country) from 3-point range.
Upset: Virginia (+190) ★★
Virginia is not the most aesthetically pleasing team under head coach Tony Bennett, but the Cavaliers win games with great discipline and intelligence. The Cavaliers have a significant advantage over the Bears regarding age and returning experience. Virginia ranks 11th in the country in D-1 experience and 36th in minutes continuity (62.6%) from last season, while Baylor is 215th and 198th in those categories, respectively.
The Cavaliers have been through a lot this past week with the tragedy that shook up their campus, but we expect them to use their experience to grind out a big non-conference win.
Prop Pick: Virginia Tech Race to 20 Points (OFF) ★★★★
Virginia Tech's Mike Young is one of the most challenging coaches in the country to prepare for, as his post-based motion offense is not one that teams typically see throughout a season. That preparation is even more difficult with no days off between games, as the Hokies and Nittany Lions played Thursday in the Charleston Classic.
The Hokies rank in the top 10 in the country in effective field goal percentage and turnover percentage, and they will have the advantage early in the game until Penn State adjusts to their unique style.
Where to Bet on College Basketball
Here are our top-rated sportsbooks:
College basketball best bets from 11/18/2022 at 6:27 a.m. ET.
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