Before we ring in 2025, there's plenty of college basketball to help beef up your betting card.
Our staff is eyeing four games on Tuesday, including two intriguing Big East tilts and a late-night Mountain West tilt.
So, here's our NCAAB best bets and odds, featuring four predictions and picks for New Year's Eve on Tuesday, December 31.
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 |
|---|---|---|
  | 2:30 p.m. | |
  | 4 p.m. | |
  | 6 p.m. | |
  | 10 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. | ||
Notre Dame vs. Georgia Tech
Yes, star point guard Markus Burton is still out for the Irish, but Notre Dame is playing much better basketball at the moment than Georgia Tech.
Micah Shrewsberry’s team lost some tight games in non-conference play (Rutgers and Creighton), but it's been largely competitive against quality power-conference opponents.
The Irish also won at Georgetown and beat Syracuse in their ACC opener.
The Yellow Jackets, on the other hand, have been a mess.
Georgia Tech is below .500 for the season and lost by 26 points in its ACC home opener to Duke.
Notre Dame’s interior of Tae Davis and Kebba Njie should own the backboards and be able to alter shots when Georgia Tech does attack the rim.
Braeden Shrewsberry and Matt Allocco are two capable 3-point shooters for the Irish, and each should get plenty of good looks from deep in this one.
Lastly, I don’t expect much of a home court advantage for Tech, with its students still on break and with this being an early afternoon tip.
Give me the Irish to win and cover in Atlanta.
Pick: Notre Dame +1 (Play to PK)
St. John's vs. Creighton
St. John's is red hot and has won six straight games, including a road victory over Providence. The Johnnies are deep, athletic and lengthy, which has helped them look like one of the top contenders in the Big East.
Meanwhile, Creighton has a thin bench, lost Pop Isaacs for the season and was absolutely burned by Georgetown on the road in an 81-57 loss.
But I think there's value on the Bluejays in this game.
Creighton does a good job of defending the interior with Ryan Kalkbrenner manning the middle. That'll force the Johnnies to either score via the 3 (a shaky 33% from deep) or off of offensive rebounds.
St. John's is 15th in the country in offensive rebounding, but it doesn't have Joel Soriano anymore, and the Bluejays are seventh nationally in defensive rebounding (essentially canceling out a huge St. John's advantage).
While I love Rick Pitino's club in the long term, this is only St. John's second true road game of the season. At Providence, the team trailed by 16 points before it came back to win on a Zuby Ejiofor last-second putback. Let's also remember that the Friars' best player — Bryce Hopkins — didn't play in that game.
Creighton is also a much different team when playing at home, as evidenced by its wins over then-No. 1 Kansas and UNLV. This is partially because the Bluejays live-and-die by the 3, and they shoot it much better in the friendly confines of Omaha.
Even though St. John's has more depth and athleticism, I'm going to back Creighton based on location of the game, its ability to shoot the 3 at a much higher level and the matchup advantages it has when it comes to defending drives and the painted area.
Pick: Creighton ML +105 (Play to -1.5)
Marquette vs. Providence
The biggest question mark for this handicap revolves around the status of Bryce Hopkins. The Providence forward, who tore his ACL last season, returned for three games before missing the following two losses to St. Bonaventure and St. John’s.
The Friars are 5-5 without Hopkins and 2-1 with him in the lineup, as his production and presence on the offensive end makes the Friars an entirely different team.
To make matters worse, Kim English hasn't offered any specifics on Hopkins' status, calling him day-to-day while saying he wants him back on the court as soon as possible.
Because of that uncertainty, I'm going to back Marquette.
But that's not the only reason I like the Golden Eagles, even on the road in one of the most difficult places to play in the Big East.
Shaka Smart's club has Kam Jones at the helm, making it easy for the Golden Eagles to create shots against a stiff Providence defense. Most importantly, it hasn't been a one-man show relying on Jones. David Joplin, Stevie Mitchell, Chase Ross and Ben Gold have been valuable pieces around the soon-to-be All-American.
Marquette is further along than most teams this season because Jones and company had experience in their roles last season when Tyler Kolek went down with an injury.
Matchup wise, the Golden Eagles need to continue to force turnovers. The Friars don't give the ball away at a high rate (12.5 giveaways per game), but they coughed it up 17 times against St. John's and 16 times in their loss to Oklahoma.
Plus, Providence's offense is a jumbled mess right now. The Friars shoot a high percentage of 3s, but are only hitting on 33.8% of those attempts. That plays into Marquette's hands, as it can get out and run off misses, creating easy opportunities for Jones and his teammates to score before the Friars' defense is set.
But if this game turns into a half-court, defensive battle, Marquette, the Big East's most complete team at the moment, is still capable of winning in that style.
Haslametrics has this spread around 9, which gives us a nice edge on the Golden Eagles.
Pick: Marquette -6 (Play to -7)
Utah State vs. Nevada
By John Feltman
Make no mistake, the Aggies' road win at the Viejas Center against San Diego State was impressive. But this is an outstanding sell-high spot if I’ve ever seen one.
I still hold firm that the Aggies are due for negative regression moving forward, and Saturday’s victory didn't change that notion.
The Aggies have had an incredibly soft schedule thus far, and it's a tough turnaround on New Year's Eve after a massive road win.
Meanwhile, the Wolf Pack can make a statement on Tuesday night with a big victory at home. Despite not heavily relying on the triple, they’re shooting 42% from 3 entering the matchup. That isn’t sustainable long term, but Aggies opponents have been brutally unlucky at shooting 3s against them, especially considering the Aggies are 310th in 3-point attempts per game on defense.
Nevada is one of the lengthiest teams in the country, and it should dominate inside thanks to Nick Davidson. The Aggies have been getting killed on the interior, so I think the Wolf Pack will have a lot of different opportunities to score.
The Wolf Pack are also shooting 57% from the field as a team, so I expect them to take advantage of a questionable-at-best Aggies defense.
I’m selling the Aggies high and buying the Wolf Pack low on NYE.
Pick: Nevada -2 (Play to -3)
