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College Basketball

Thursday’s Tip Sheet

VegasInsider Staff
VegasInsider Staff Sports Betting Expert
4 minute read
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The Thanksgiving Day Holiday offers up a pair of neutral-site games in Las Vegas and Anaheim as the two featured college basketball betting matchups on the board.

From Orleans Arena in Las Vegas, the Big 12’s No. 12 Texas Tech Red Raiders face the Big Ten’s Iowa Hawkeyes. Moving to the Anaheim Convention Center for the second featured game, the West Coast Conference Pepperdine Waves close out Thursday’s college basketball schedule in a late start against the Pac-12’s No. 14 Arizona Wildcats

No. 12 Texas Tech vs. Iowa (FOX Sports 1, 8:00 p.m. ET)

Opening Odds: Texas Tech -6.5, Total 146

Betting Matchup

With Sunday’s 96-66 romp against LIU-Brooklyn as 24-point favorites, the Red Raiders improved to a perfect 5-0 straight-up and 4-1 against the spread. The total has gone OVER in three of the five games. The No. 12 team in the nation is ranked ninth in scoring with an average of 87.0 points per game. This is also the top team in the country when it comes to team assists (22.0). Freshman guard Jahmi’us Ramsey is the leading scorer (19.4 PPG) and senior guard Chris Clarke is averaging 5.8 assists a game.

Iowa has won four of its first five games SU. Its lone loss was against DePaul in a 93-78 upset as a nine-point favorite. The Hawkeyes also failed to cover in an 83-68 victory against North Florida as 16-point favorites. The total has stayed UNDER or ended as a PUSH in four of those first five outings. Junior center Luka Garza scored a career-high 30 points in a recent win against Oral Roberts. He leads the Hawkeyes in both points (22.2) and rebounds (10.2). Iowa is averaging 84.0 points and 40.2 rebounds a game. One injury note; sophomore forward Jack Nunge was lost for the season with a torn ACL.

Betting Trends

-- The Red Raiders are a perfect 6-0 ATS in their last six games against the Big Ten. The total has stayed UNDER in four of their last five games against a team from this conference.

-- The Hawkeyes have gone 11-1 ATS in their last 12 neutral-site games with the total going OVER in five of their last six games against the Big 12.

-- These two teams played a home-and-home series in 2003 and 2004 with the home team winning each time SU. The total stayed UNDER in each contest.

Pepperdine vs. No. 14 Arizona (ESPN2, 11:00 p.m. ET)

Opening Odds: Arizona -14.5, Total 154.5

Betting Matchup

The Waves have split their first six games both SU and ATS. This includes losses to other Pac-12 teams’ California and USC. They did cover as 11 ½-point underdogs in the 91-84 road loss to the Trojans. The total has gone OVER in five of those six games. Junior guard Colbey Ross leads the team in both points (20.7) and assists (7.0). He scored 38 points in the loss to USC. Pepperdine is scoring an average of 78.5 PPG and it is giving up an average of 79.8 points on defense.

Arizona has won its first six games SU with a profitable 5-1 record ATS. It failed to cover as heavy 25-point favorites in a 71-74 victory against South Dakota State last Thursday. On Sunday, the Wildcats pulled away from Long Beach State in a 104-67 win as 25 ½-point favorites. The total has stayed UNDER in four of their first six games. Arizona is scoring 87.7 PPG which is the sixth-highest average in the nation. Defensively, it is holding opponents to just 57.3 points. Freshman forward Zeke Nnaji leads the team in scoring with 19.5 points a game.

Betting Trends

-- The Waves have a 4-1 record ATS in their last five games played at a neutral site. The total has gone OVER in six of their last seven nonconference games.

-- The Wildcats are 2-6 ATS in their last eight games against the West Coast Conference and the total has stayed UNDER in four of their last five WCC games.

-- The only time these two teams met was in 2001 with Arizona rolling to a 94-71 victory at home as a 13 ½-point favorite.

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