No. 13 Texas A&M vs. No. 16 Ole Miss spotlights Wednesday's college basketball slate — along with two top-15 teams heading on the road — but I'm looking for value for my best bets.
I'm targeting three specific games, with the feature matchup coming in the Big Ten.
So, here's my college basketball best bets and odds, including three picks and predictions for Wednesday, January 22.
College Basketball Best Bets
The team logos in the table below represent each of the matchups that our college basketball betting staff is targeting from today's slate of games. Click on the team logos for any of the matchups below to navigate to a specific bet discussed in this article.
| Game | Time (ET) | Pick |
|---|---|---|
  | 6:30 p.m. | |
  | 8 p.m. | |
  | 9 p.m. | |
Specific betting recommendations come from the sportsbook offering preferred odds as of writing. Always shop for the best price using our NCAAB Odds page, which automatically surfaces the best lines for every game. | ||
Robert Morris vs. Youngstown State
Youngstown State and Robert Morris meet for the second time this season, each looking to stay near the top of the league standings.
Youngstown State dominated the first matchup, winning by 14 and suffocating the Robert Morris offense. Since then, the Colonials have been much improved and are winners of four of their last five.
Youngstown State is on a bit of a skid due in large part to an injury to star guard EJ Farmer.
Farmer is a game-time decision tonight. If he's in, Youngstown State should have no trouble sweeping the Colonials in Horizon play. If he's out, it gets a bit hairier, but the Penguins still have the goods to pull off a win.
For starters, Youngstown is one of the tougher places to play in the Horizon – visitors simply want to get out of Youngstown, Ohio, as quickly as possible.
Secondly, the Penguins are the best defensive team in the conference, which gives them a fighting chance no matter the opponent.
With the league’s best rim protector in Gabe Dynes and the versatile Nico Galette fortifying the frontcourt, scoring in the paint on Youngstown State is a brutal task.
Robert Morris has little to no shooting – the Colonials are eighth in the Horizon in 3-point attempt rate and ninth in 3-point percentage. They need to get on the glass and get to the line to score buckets. The former is tough to do against Youngstown State, but the Penguins do tend to hack a bit.
Youngstown’s offense minus Farmer isn’t pretty, so it'll need to win ugly if he’s out once again. The Penguins are largely a jump-shooting team and rely on outside shots to score (and they can’t really shoot).
The Colonials take away the 3 at the highest rate in the league, so points might have to come via transition. The Penguins are one of the more up-tempo squads in the Horizon and look to push off the defensive glass to start their break.
Youngstown will make it 2-0 in a bounce-back home effort against a squad it knows it's better than.
Pick: Youngstown State -2.5 (Play to -4)
Illinois Chicago vs. Evansville
Evansville is off to its best Missouri Valley start in years, though a three-game stretch against three of the best teams in the league has the Purple Aces on a three-game skid.
UIC is enjoying a renaissance season under new head coach Rob Ehsan, but the Flames will need to bring their football pads when they travel to Evansville on Wednesday.
The Aces’ early conference run was even more impressive considering they did it without — by far — their best offensive weapon in freshman Gabriel Pozzato.
Pozzato, the team’s leading scorer, returned last contest in a narrow defeat against Belmont after missing eight games with an injury. Game two should be better for Pozzato, and the Aces could surely use his scoring, as they're easily the MVC’s worst offensive squad.
Evansville wins games on the defensive end, where it’s as gritty as any team in the country. The Aces are Valley’s best defensive team and lead the league in 2-point field goal percentage allowed and block rate.
6-foot-10 twin towers Connor Turnbull and Joshua Hughes own the paint. UIC does most of its damage offensively inside the arc, but the smaller Flames might find putting points on the board difficult against the Purple People Eaters swarming the key.
UIC’s defense is nothing to write home about. The Flames don’t put pressure on their opponents, ranking last in the Valley in defensive turnover rate.
Evansville has enough creation with Pozzato and guard Tayshawn Comer, shooting with Cam Haffner, versatility with Tanner Cuff and size with Turnbull and Hughes to manufacture points.
Look for the Aces to control the pace in what should be an ugly affair.
Evansville should muck this game up enough to snuff out the Flames and emerge with its fourth MVC win of the season.
Pick: Evansville +5 (Play to +4)
USC vs. Nebraska
Nebraska needs to stop the bleeding. Losers of five straight, the once promising NCAA Tournament Cinderella is quickly turning into a pumpkin.
Thankfully, Wednesday is the perfect get-right spot for the Huskers, who are back at home in one of the sneaky best environments in college basketball to host a bottom-half Big Ten team in USC.
The Huskers win with physicality and grit, two attributes that they should have an edge in tonight against the Trojans.
Nebraska uses a variety of methods to work the ball near the hoop in hopes of getting easy rim looks or earning trips to the foul line.
USC’s defense is undisciplined and tends to foul frequently, sending opponents to the stripe at one of the highest rates in Big Ten play. The Trojans have also allowed one of the highest field goal percentages at the rim in the country.
Per usual, Brice Williams and Juwan Gary will be the key, as they're dynamic wings who are often matchup nightmares for opposing squads.
USC does have a bigger wing corps than your average opponent, but the advantage will still be with the Husker duo over Eric Musselman’s transfer castaways.
Stretch forward Berke Buyuktuncel could be Nebraska’s biggest matchup edge, with his ability to pull bigger defenders to the arc and also pound smaller opponents near the cup.
Nebraska’s recent losing skid has been heavily influenced by opponent 3-point shooting. Fred Hoiberg’s squad packs it in defensively and allows a high rate of 3-point attempts, and unfortunately for him, those attempts have been falling.
While USC has a few shooters on its roster, only one (Chibuzo Agbo) is high volume, and the Trojans, as a team, shoot the second-lowest rate of 3s in the conference. Nebraska will force them to take shots they don't want to shoot.
Nebraska will bounce back at home on Wednesday and take one step closer to .500 in the unforgiving Big Ten.
Pick: Nebraska -4.5 (Play to -5.5)
