College Basketball Picks: 2 Best Bets For Monday Night's Action
College Basketball Picks: 2 Best Bets For Monday Night's Action
Illinois vs. Iowa Prediction
I am back with my best College Basketball bets of the day! I have two bets today that I love on this short slate, so let’s hop into these picks and stay hot!
The first play I am looking at is a Big 10 Conference showdown between the Illinois Fighting Illini and the Iowa Hawkeyes. Iowa comes into this game as a short favorite at home. The Hawkeyes were projected to finish middle of the pack in the Big 10, however, their early play has shown otherwise.
The Hawkeyes come into this conference game with a 7-1 record on the year, with their only loss coming against the No. 1 team in the nation, the Purdue Boilermakers. The Hawkeyes also played that game without their best player, Keegan Murray, and competed from start to finish.The status of Murray is currently undetermined tonight for this pivotal early-season game.
The Illini come into this game looking to get a big road win as their early season has been off to a Jekel-and-Hyde start. The Illini enter tonight at 6-2 but have displayed inconsistent play in the young season.
Tonight, the pick I am going with will be Iowa on the moneyline at -135. This line suggests Murray will be a go to me, but even if he can't, I believe this is a great bounce-back spot for Iowa at home. This is a well-coached and skilled team, and this is one of the more challenging environments to play at in the Big 10.
I believe this Iowa team matches up well across the board with Illinois. The game plan prepared by Fran McCaffery will be well done, limiting the production of star big man Kofi Cockburn and forcing the guards on Illinois to shoot lights out. The pace that the Hawkeyes play at is not the pace that Illinois enjoys playing at. Iowa will turn this game into a track meet and speed up Illinois, which will force more turnovers and fast-break opportunities for Iowa. The only way I see Illinois winning this game is if they shot the ball lights out from three, and that does not threaten me in this position tonight. I will gladly take the short home favorite in the Iowa Hawkeyes, and we will cash in another bet on this game.
Illinois vs. Iowa Pick
- PICK: Iowa ML @ -135
New Mexico vs. New Mexico State Prediction
New Mexico vs. New Mexico State odds
The second and final play I have today will be a fan favorite first-half under! These unders have hit at a great rate this season, and we will cash in another one here today!
The game I will be looking at is an affair between the New Mexico State Aggies and the New Mexico Lobos. These teams just met up a week ago, and they scored a total of ninety-one points in the first half. What are we going to do today? We are going to bet the first half under and sweat, of course.
This will be a play the public hammers the over simply off what I just said. These teams shot lights out when they played the entire game, but the defense was not that bad. It was more the ability of the shot-making. I do not believe the type of shooting that we saw last week will be sustainable tonight. This is a very high number for the first half, and I am willing to bet on some regression tonight as far as the shooting is concerned. These are a pair of teams who can play slow and look to play a half-court game, and that is what we will see tonight. I hope everyone is ready to sweat another first half under with me again tonight!
New Mexico vs. New Mexico State Pick
Article Author
Matt McCuen is a native of Delco, PA. He has been working in the sports gambling industry and creating content for the last few years. He is an expert in numerous different sports, including the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, and collegiate sports. You can follow Matt on Twitter at @DeadPresPicks.