NCAA Basketball Best Bets for December 19: Road ‘Dogs, Home Chalk & An ‘Under’
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Willie Bee
- December 19, 2024
Top NCAAB Pick: New Orleans/Texas Under 149 (-110) at BetOnline (visit our BetOnline Review)
It’s a light Thursday college hoops card, but our handicapper has found some value on the NCAAB odds board for three of the matchups.
There are only six more shopping days until Christmas and even less time to stuff your wallet with winnings on the college basketball betting front. Thursday’s card includes a couple of SEC teams favored big at home and a tasty matchup of mid-majors off to good starts.
Buffalo Bulls vs. Georgia Bulldogs
Thursday, December 19, 2024 – 07:00 PM ET at Stegeman Coliseum
With three more games to tune up for what promises to be a rough-and-tumble SEC slate, the Georgia Bulldogs welcome the Buffalo Bulls to Athens on Thursday and are being asked to cover a 28-point spread at the top-rated sportsbooks.
Bulls Idle For Nearly 2 Weeks
This is the second of a 4-game stretch of road games for the Bulls, who take the floor for the first time in 12 days after dropping a 65-55 decision at St. Bonaventure a couple of Saturdays ago. While Buffalo has won only one time in its previous five roadies, the Bulls covered all five of the games, each time as a double-digit underdog.
Georgia has won 4-straight since suffering its only loss of the season to Marquette in the Bahamas. The Bulldogs covered the first three of the wins, but failed to do so at home last Saturday in a 73-68 triumph over Grand Canyon.
First Meeting in 48 Years
The Bulldogs have won each of the previous two matchups, most recently in 1976. Buffalo last took on an SEC team a little more than five years ago with a loss at Vanderbilt, and Georgia last faced a MAC team in 2022 when the Bulldogs held off a stubborn Miami-OH squad.
Being off for so long concerns me, but I’m still going to run with the Bulls’ road trend and take the points.
NCAAB Pick: Buffalo +28 (-108) at Heritage Sports (visit our Heritage Sports Review)
Lipscomb Bison vs. Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders
Thursday, December 19, 2024 – 07:30 PM ET at Murphy Center
A couple of teams off to winning starts straight-up and against the spread collide in Murfreesboro where Middle Tennessee of Conference USA hosts Lipscomb of the Atlantic Sun. Bookmaker (visit our Bookmaker Review) is selling the Blue Raiders at -1.5 with 147 for the total.
Lipscomb Favored to Win A-Sun
Picked to win the Atlantic Sun this season, the Bisons look as if they intend to live up to that prediction with a 5-game win streak – 4-0 ATS – after losing four of their first six games. Lennie Acuff’s lads won’t have to hold anything back in this one with a 10-day break coming up.
Middle Tennessee was picked fourth in the C-USA preseason poll behind Louisiana Tech, Western Kentucky and Sam Houston, and that quartet is presently packed in close to one another in the Kenpom ratings.
Road Teams Win Last 2 Meetings
Lipscomb and Middle Tennessee played a home-&-home series 5-6 years ago and split the two matchups by each claiming a road win over the other. Totals have split three ways in the last three matchups, 1-1-1 O/U/P.
The Blue Raiders have a big clash with top-ranked Tennessee coming up next Monday in Knoxville, and I like them at home tonight.
NCAAB Pick: Middle Tennessee -1.5 (-110) at Bookmaker
New Orleans Privateers vs. Texas Longhorns
Thursday, December 19, 2024 – 08:00 PM ET at Moody Center
Somewhere in the back of Texas coaches’ and players’ minds is the upcoming schedule the Longhorns are going to face to begin SEC play. It is arguably the toughest 8-game stretch any team in the country will face this season, with seven of the games against current ranked teams.
That means every game between now and January 4th is a risk the Longhorns could be caught looking ahead, and while New Orleans might be in the bottom 20 of the Pomeroy rankings, the Privateers are still capable of beating the NCAAB odds in Austin on Thursday.
Johnson is Questionable For the Longhorns
This is the sixth consecutive road contest for New Orleans, and the Privateers won’t be in their own gym for a couple more weeks with games at LSU and Vanderbilt among the three additional road stops before the end of the year.
Iowa dismantled the Privateers last Sunday, 104-57, and the Hawkeyes had the 30-point spread covered for good roughly five minutes into the second half.
This spread would be even bigger if not for the uncertainty surrounding Tre Johnson’s availability for the Longhorns. The freshman missed last Sunday’s rout of Arkansas-Pine Bluff due to a strained hip and is officially listed as questionable to take the floor in this one.
Play ‘Under’ in Austin
It has been a little more than 21 years since the Privateers and Longhorns last met, Texas cruising to an 89-55 victory in Austin to take a 2-1 lead in the all-time series. I’m looking for a similar result tonight with my college basketball pick on the low side of the total.
NCAAB Pick: New Orleans/Texas Under 149 (-110) at BetOnline
*The line and/or odds on picks in this article might have moved since the content was commissioned. For updated line movements, visit BMR’s free betting odds product.
