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College Basketball

Tuesday’s Tip Sheet

VegasInsider Staff
VegasInsider Staff Sports Betting Expert
4 minute read
The Big Ten has started the tradition of playing a week of conference games early in the month of December. This unique twist in scheduling gives college basketball bettors their first glimpse of conference play ahead of the actual conference schedule that starts up right after the New Year’s holiday.

Tuesday night’s conference lineup features a pair of matchups on the Big Ten Network starting with the Indiana Hoosiers’ road game against Penn State. Later Tuesday night, the No. 7 Michigan Wolverines will be on the road against the Northwestern Wildcats.

Sunday was the third day of early conference play in the Big Ten and the Nebraska Cornhuskers were able to win their seventh game in eight outings straight-up with a 75-60 home victory against 2-6 Illinois as 13-point favorites.

Later that day in a battle of teams that came in with just one SU loss, the 7-1 Ohio State Buckeyes beat 6-2 Minnesota 79-59 as 8 ½-point favorites at home. The total ended as a PUSH in that game on a closing line of 138.

Indiana Hoosiers at Penn State Nittany Lions (Big Ten Network, 7:00 p.m. ET)

Opening Odds: Penn State -2 ½, Total 136

Betting Matchup

Indiana got things started in the Big Ten on Saturday with a tight 68-66 home victory against Northwestern as a seven-point favorite. This followed a 90-69 loss to Duke on Nov. 27 as a heavy 15-point underdog. The Hoosiers are 6-2 SU with a shaky 3-5 record ATS after failing to cover in each of their last five games. The total has stayed UNDER the closing line in four of their last five contests. Indiana is averaging 80.4 points per game while allowing an average of 64.8 points a game on defense. One question mark for Tuesday could be forward Juwan Morgan.

The Nittany Lions made a splash in last week’s ACC/Big Ten Challenge by knocking off then-No. 13 Virginia Tech 63-62 as five-point home favorites. They opened play in the conference with a tough 65-59 loss to Maryland on Saturday as 6 ½-point road underdogs. Penn State is 4-3 SU with a 3-4 record ATS. The total stayed UNDER 142 points in Saturday’s loss and it has now stayed UNDER in Penn State’s last six games on a scoring average of 69.7 PPG.

Betting Trends

-- The Hoosiers have gone 12-5 ATS in their last 17 Big Ten games and the total has stayed UNDER or ended as a PUSH in 13 of their last 16 road games.

-- The Lions are 10-4 ATS in their last 14 games against the conference and the total has stayed UNDER in 25 of their last 35 games played at home.

-- Head-to-head, the home teams has a 3-0-1 edge ATS and the total has stayed UNDER in seven of the last 10 meetings in Penn State.

No. 7 Michigan Wolverines at Northwestern Wildcats (Big Ten Network, 9:00 p.m. ET)

Opening Odds: Michigan -6 ½, Total 129

Betting Matchup

Michigan’s hot start has them rapidly climbing the ranks in both national polls. After embarrassing North Carolina 84-67 as a 3 ½-point home favorite in last week’s ACC/Big Ten Challenge, it opened conference play with a solid 76-57 victory against the ranked Purdue Boilermakers as six-point favorites at home on Saturday. The Wolverines are a perfect 8-0 straight-up with a 5-3 record against the spread. The total has stayed UNDER in five of their first eight games.

Northwestern’s only loss this season heading into conference play was a 78-59 setback against Fresno State on Nov. 22 as a 6 ½-point favorite. The Wildcats doubled their SU loss total on Saturday when they came up short against Indiana. They are 6-2 SU overall with a 5-3 record ATS. The total has stayed UNDER or ended as a PUSH in five of the eight games. Four different players scored in double figures in Saturday’s loss led by senior forward Vic Law. The senior forward leads the team in scoring with 17.6 points per game.

Betting Trends

-- The Wolverines have covered in eight of their last nine road games against a team with a SU winning record at home and the total has stayed UNDER or ended as a PUSH in seven of their last eight Big Ten games.

-- The Wildcats are 2-5 ATS in their last seven Tuesday games and the total has gone OVER in five of their last seven home games.

-- The home team in this matchup has covered in five of the last six meetings and the total has stayed UNDER or ended as a PUSH in seven of the last nine games between the two.

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