Clemson vs. Duke, Texas vs. Connecticut are perhaps the two biggest games on today’s card.
It’s a great day for college fans and more importantly, college basketball handicappers as Bodog takes a peek at some of the top games. They start out with the Huskies-Longhorns.
The Texas Longhorns’ two-week stay at No. 1 will likely end no matter what they do Saturday against UConn after losing early this week to Kansas State, but the Horns probably won’t drop farther than No. 4 if they can beat the Huskies on Saturday afternoon – make your NCAA Basketball Odds at Bodog on this game.
Connecticut (12-6, 7-9 ATS) is of course still without head coach Jim Calhoun, who is on an indefinite leave of absence for medical reasons. But the Huskies ended a three-game losing streak in their first game without Calhoun by beating St. John’s on Wednesday. UConn made 56.9 percent of its shots against St. John’s, 65.4 percent in the second half, to shake out of its offensive slump. Jerome Dyson leads the Huskies in scoring at 18.8 ppg and is also averaging 4.9 rebounds per game and 5.1 assists per game.
When making your college basketball bet at Bodog, know that the numbers don’t really add up for a win for the Huskies as UConn is 1-6 all-time against the nation’s No. 1 team and 0-4 against ranked opponents this season. Texas is the first No. 1 team (other than UConn itself) to ever play at Gampel Pavilion, however. Connecticut hasn’t lost a non-conference game there since 2001. These two teams have met five times previously – UConn leads 3-2 – but not since the 2003 Sweet 16.
Texas (17-1, 7-7 ATS), despite Monday’s loss, is still off to its best start in 63 years. Against Kansas State, UT had season lows in points (62), first-half points (26) and free-throw percentage (.409). But Manhattan is one of the nation’s toughest places to play. Star forward Damion James will be up for national player of the year honors and is averaging 19.2 points and 11.9 rebounds in the past nine games. He was held to 9 and 7, respectively, on Monday. UT also has a lot more depth than UConn does but is 0-4 ATS on the road.
Duke and Clemson are currently the two highest-ranked teams in the ACC, but both enter Saturday night’s game off a loss and the loser of this one falls to 3-3 in the conference and faces a major uphill challenge to win the regular-season ACC title – get your NCAA Basketball Odds on this game at Bodog.
Duke’s loss at North Carolina State on Wednesday was surprising in how one-sided it was: The Blue Devils (15-3 11-6 ATS) lost by 14 to the unranked Wolfpack, allowing them to shoot better than 58 percent from the field. Yet it shouldn’t have been that surprising as Duke has now lost six of its last eight conference road games. And the Blue Devils simply aren’t a very good road team, now 0-3 (0-3 ATS) in true road games this season. They are 2-1 against ranked teams so far.
Clemson (15-4, 9-7) is 1-3 against ranked teams this season, and that includes a blowout loss at Duke in the Tigers’ ACC opener. Clemson scored just 12 points on 5-of-30 shooting in the first half in that one, the worst first-half point total and shooting percentage in coach Oliver Purnell’s seven seasons at Clemson. Including Tuesday’s loss at Georgia Tech, the Tigers have lost nine of their past 10 games against ranked ACC teams. They are 0-4 this season when shooting under 40 percent from the field.
When making your college basketball bet on this game, know that Duke has won 23 of the past 25 meetings in this series but lost by 27 when it visited Clemson last season – the Blue Devils’ worst loss since the 190 national championship game and the Tigers’ first home win against Duke since 1997. That snapped a 20-game win streak in the series for the Blue Devils.
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