Top NCAA Basketball Betting Opportunities For December 7

New Mexico State power forward Mike Peake has been suspended indefinitely from the basketball team in connection with last month’s fatal shooting of a student from the University of New Mexico. Peake, 21, has not been charged in the Nov. 19 predawn shooting on the New Mexico campus in Albuquerque hours before the host Lobos were to play the Aggies. He averages 9.0 points and 3.5 rebounds per game. Here are two interesting Tuesday games around the country for your NCAAB bets.

Games to bet on this Tuesday

Michigan State at Penn State (-4.5)

Tips at 7:30 p.m. ET on the Big Ten Network. The Spartans lost their Big Ten opener on Sunday at home to Northwestern, 70-63. Michigan State fell behind by nine points in the second half and cut the Northwestern lead to one in the final minute but could not get closer.

Junior guard A.J. Hoggard came off the bench and led the way with 12 points, eight assists and six rebounds, while junior forward Mady Sissoko scored 12 points, had two rebounds three blocks and graduate forward Joey Hauser added 10 points and eight rebounds. Hauser needs 28 points to pass the 1,000-point mark for his career.

MSU committed 13 turnovers and the Wildcats scored 13 points off of those. The Spartans allowed Northwestern to shoot 42.9 percent from the floor, including 50.0 percent in the first half (11-of-22). The Wildcats hit 87.5 percent of their free throws (21-of-24). Northwestern out-rebounded Michigan State, 31-30. The Spartans shot just 41.8 percent from the floor (23-of-55), including 37.0 percent (10-of-27) in the second half. The last time the Spartans lost a Big Ten Conference home opener was during the 2014-15 season, when Maryland beat MSU, 68-66.

Penn State will play its conference opener. It comes off a 101-94 double-overtime loss on Nov. 29 at Clemson. The Nittany Lions rallied from a seven-point deficit in the final 51 seconds of regulation and graduate student Andrew Funk banked in a game-tying 3-pointer to force overtime but it wouldn’t be enough.

Camren Wynter led Penn State with 26 points with the help of an 11-for-12 effort from the free throw line. Jalen Pickett finished with 23 points, eight assists and seven rebounds, while Seth Lundy tallied a double-double with 23 points and 12 rebounds. PSU had three players finish with 20-plus points for the first time since Dec. 20, 2006 against VMI (Claxton, Cornley, Hassell).

Penn State is seeking back-to-back wins over Michigan State for the first time in program history. Four of the last five meetings between the two teams have been decided by seven points or less. Michigan State leads the all-time series 42-10. Five of Penn State’s 10 wins over the Spartans have come in Happy Valley. The teams split last season’s series, with the home team winning each contest.

No. 5 UConn at Florida (+4)

Non-conference matchup at 9 p.m. ET on ESPN2. The unbeaten Huskies last played on Dec. 1 and beat Oklahoma State 74-64. Jordan Hawkins and Adama Sanogo combined for 46 points.

Hawkins, who had a career-high 26 points, had 18 points in the first half, including four 3-pointers as the Huskies broke away from a 28-25 deficit with 7:26 remaining and finished the half on a 23-3 explosion. Oklahoma State never recovered from UConn’s 48-31 halftime advantage.

“I was thrilled with the way we handled the last half of the first half,” UConn Coach Dan Hurley said. “Our spurt-ability was on display – with the shooting. We were not good defensively. But it feels really good to beat a team that is an NCAA caliber team.”

The 9-0 start is UConn’s best since 2013-14 but this will be the team’s first true road game. The No. 5 ranking is the highest ranking in 11 years for UConn, since Nov. 21, 2011, when the Huskies were ranked No. 4 in the AP poll. UConn is also the only undefeated team in the country that has won every game by double-digits.

Florida last played Sunday and routed Stetson 89-51. Sophomore guard Will Richard returned to the lineup after missing the Gators’ previous game with a knee bruise and made all five of his shots, including four 3-pointers. UF (6-3) shot well over 50 percent both overall and from distance for the second straight game, but more importantly put together a second consecutive on-point defensive effort in holding one of the nation’s statistically best 3-point teams to only 23.5 percent for the game.

With fifth-year point guard Kyle Lofton (back spasms) sidelined for a second straight game, sophomore wing Kowacie Reeves got a second consecutive start and scored 12 points, while forwards Colin Castleton and first-time starter Alex Fudge adding 11 points each, a combined 13 rebounds and 10-for-10 from the free-throw line.

Florida is 8-30 all-time against non-conference opponents ranked in the top 10, including 4-7 at home and 2-6 during the so-called O’Dome era (1981-present). UConn leads the all-time series 4-1, with four straight wins, including a couple (one early in the 2013-14 season, the other very late) that certainly represent painful memories for UF fans. In the Huskies’ home game of this contract, played Nov. 17, 2019, guard Christian Vital sank two free throws with 17 seconds left and survived one last the final Florida possession for a 62-59 win at sold-out Gampel Pavilion at Storrs, Conn