Top College Basketball Picks for Wednesday, December 1 (2021)
Last night, we didn’t get the sweep, but we still went 2-1 on the night. Currently, to start the week, plays are now 5-1. We’ll look to keep this hot week rolling with three more plays for Wednesday, December 1. Let’s get right to it!
All odds via BettingPros consensus
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The Citadel vs. UNC Asheville: The Citadel +1.5
(6:30 PM ET tip)
The Citadel Bulldogs have already defeated Pittsburgh and looked solid against Presbyterian, and stuck around against Duke in the first half. The Citadel Bulldogs are 4-2 with three wins against two non-D1 opponents and a win against South Carolina State. Nothing to brag about here, outside the Pittsburgh win.
However, The Citadel is shooting a 56.9 percent effective field goal percentage while knocking down 38.7 percent of threes and 55.6 percent of two’s. This team is very capable offensively, but their opponent, UNC Asheville, is not very capable on offense.
The UNC Asheville Bulldogs have just one D-1 win, and it was against Tennessee Tech, 61-55. This team can’t keep up offensively, shooting an effective field goal percentage of 41 percent while shooting 25.5 percent from deep and 42.9 percent from inside the arc.
These teams have defended the three well, but only The Citadel has a solid defensive effective field goal percentage.
Southern Illinois vs. Evansville: Southern Illinois -1.5 (-110)
(7:00 PM ET tip)
The Southern Illinois Salukis dropped a terrible loss to Little Rock earlier in the season, 69-66. But since that road game, they’ve responded with wins against Austin Peay and Colorado. Evansville should be no problem.
The Salukis have held opponents to just 27.2 percent from long range and have dominated inside, scoring 57.1 percent on the offensive end inside the paint. The Salukis should also be able to get to the foul line at a higher rate and should have more success on the glass, knowing Evansville has only grabbed 21.5 percent of offensive rebounds this season.
The Evansville Purple Aces have already played so many games and have wins against two of the bottom-tier teams in college basketball. Outside of beating IUPUI and Eastern Illinois, Evansville has struggled. They took Rice to triple overtime and lost and stayed in games against some of the better competition, but I’ll roll with Southern Illinois here with such a small spread.
Northern Iowa vs. Bradley: Bradley +4.5 (-110)
(8:00 PM ET tip)
The Bradley Braves have just one D-1 win all year, and it came against Maine, one of the worst teams in college basketball. However, Bradley dropped a bunch of games against solid opponents like Colorado State, Brown, and Duquesne, losing all of those three games on a neutral court by single digits.
Bradley has struggled at the foul line, shooting just 56.2 percent while its opponents have hit 81.2 from the line. Neither of those numbers is very sustainable, and knowing Bradley is the home team has me believing that the Braves will shoot better at the line tonight.
Northern Iowa has dominated on the defensive glass but has looked terrible on the offensive glass. The Panthers have held opponents to just 15.7 percent offensive rebounds, but these numbers seem like they’re by chance at this point. Not a single Panthers play is averaging more than 4.8 rebounds per game. They also don’t have a height advantage and lack depth in scoring and off the bench.
Therefore, I like Bradley to win the first conference game of the year. I’ll play it safe, though, and grab the +4.5 for the Braves.
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Jason Radowitz is a featured writer at BettingPros. For more from Jason, check out his archive and follow him @Jason_Radowitz.