College Basketball Best Bets for Thursday, January 26th |Mybookie

Here are our selections or the best bets of a fairly thin college basketball Thursday! The slate is not exactly loaded with games featuring high-profile teams battling for top seeding in power six conferences, but we were able to dig out some nice selections to make some cold hard cash!

Wisconsin-Milwaukee Panthers at Wright State Raiders: Over 152

Too often, the total goes overlooked by bettors. Everyone always becomes infatuated with big-time money line plays or a spread that stands out. While finding a home dog in a conference game is always a nice pick to hunt, don’t forget the total and know how to find the trends.

For Thursday, the Panthers traveling to Dayton to take on the Raiders represents a pair of teams trending in the same direction in terms of totals. Neither team is really setting the world on fire overall in terms of record against the total this season, with Wright State at 11-8 and Milwaukee at just 9-8. However, at home, Wright State has gone over the total in five of their eight games this season and by an average of +12.7 points per contest. In addition, the Raiders have exceeded the total in eight of their last ten contests overall.

While Milwaukee is fairly mediocre overall against the total, they have exceeded the number in three of their last four games. The Panthers have scored at least 70 points in each of their last five games, and Wright State is far from a defensive juggernaut. Both of these teams rank within the top 35 in the nation in terms of tempo, and both rank within the top 80 in the nation in effective field goal percentage. Neither rank within the top 175 in the nation in adjusted defensive efficiency.

Purdue Boilermakers (-5) at Michigan Wolverines

This is a fine example of what we just spoke about above, a home dog in a conference matchup. Of course, the difference here is that Purdue is heading in the correct direction, while Michigan is one of the most inconsistent teams we have watched all season.

Overall this season, Purdue is just 2-3 against the spread on the road and 8-11-1 overall versus the anticipated margin. However, Matt Painter’s Boilermakers are finding their groove during conference play having covered in five of their last seven games. Despite being a game below .500 ATS on the road, Purdue does own a margin of victory number of +7.6 points.

Michigan, again has been terribly mediocre or inconsistent, however, you want to look at it. The Wolverines are just 5-5 against the spread at home this season and are underperforming the number by an average of -1.3 points per contest. Juwan Howard’s club has also covered just once in their last four games overall. In their two most recent games at home, they were only able to defeat Northwestern by seven and Minnesota by four; neither performance is very inspiring.