NCAA Basketball Best Bets for January 31: Ivy & A-10 Picks to Close January
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Willie Bee
- January 31, 2025
Top NCAAB Pick: Princeton +2.5 (-108) at Heritage Sports (visit our Heritage Sports Review)
January’s college basketball betting schedule comes to an end, and we are on the trail of a couple of mid-major matchups that will have huge implications just five short weeks from now when seeding for conference tournaments is decided.
Make sure to take a look at our YouTube channel for more daily betting advice. Today, our expert has advice on the Indiana vs. Purdue and Dayton vs. Saint Louis games.
Yale Bulldogs vs. Princeton Tigers
Friday, January 31, 2025 – 05:00 PM ET at Jadwin Gymnasium
First place in the Ivy League is on the line in New Jersey where Princeton hosts Yale, and it’s an early tip with the Tigers and Bulldogs getting underway just as the quitting bell rings to begin the weekend.
Princeton has won the last three league titles, but Yale is on top of the Ivy right now with a 4-0 record while the Tigers check in a game back. It’s big enough to be carried on ESPN2, and top-rated sportsbooks are favoring the Bulldogs by 2.5 with the total 147-148.
Tigers Have Won 44 of Last 51 Home Games
Much to the delight of the home fans, Yale stretched its win streak to 5 with an 84-55 rout of Harvard last Saturday. The Bulldogs scored the first bucket 14 seconds into the contest and maintained the lead the rest of the way to easily cover a 13.5-point home chalk.
In his 25th season as head coach, James Jones has one of the top rebounding teams in the country with a 40.3 RPG clip ranking 13th, and the Bulldogs are outrebounding opponents by 10 boards per game.
That same day, Princeton’s fans left Jadwin Coliseum disappointed due to Cornell’s 85-74 mild upset. The NCAAB odds favored the Tigers by 4.5, and the defeat was the first Ivy League loss for Mitch Henderson’s club that also saw a 7-game win streak come to an end.
Failing to beat the spread is nothing new for Princeton. The loss to Cornell marked the 5th-straight ATS setback, a streak that includes all four conference contests.
253rd Meeting in Rivalry
The old foes split their matchups a season ago, the Bulldogs and Tigers each registering home wins and covers as small favorites. The contest last year in New Jersey was a 73-62 Princeton decision that fell just a tad short of the total for the third consecutive ‘under’ winner in the series.
Even though the Bulldogs have won 11 of the last 14 matchups, the Tigers still own a comfortable 153-99 lead in the series, including 90-33 on their home floor. And it’s that strong homecourt advantage that has me taking Princeton and the point.
NCAAB Pick: Princeton +2.5 (-108) at Heritage Sports
Dayton Flyers vs. Saint Louis Billikens
Friday, January 31, 2025 – 07:00 PM ET at Chaifetz Arena
First place in the A-10 isn’t on the line when Saint Louis hosts Dayton, but this remains a very important game for the Billikens and Flyers as far as the conference race goes.
The 73rd meeting between Saint Louis and Dayton trails the Yale-Princeton contest on ESPN2, and after the contest opened as a pick, Bookmaker (visit our Bookmaker Review) now has Dayton favored by 1.5.
Billikens 1-7 O/U in A10 Play
Suffering three consecutive losses early on the conference slate put Dayton in a big hole, but the Flyers appeared to be slowly digging their way out by winning the following three games. That was before a horrible effort at St. Bonaventure on Tuesday.
Favored by 2.5, Dayton was hammered by 22 in a 75-53 loss to the Bonnies. Give St. Bonaventure some credit for a fine night from behind the arc where the Bonnies connected on 12-of-25, but save some blame to heap on the Flyers for some poor defense.
Josh Shertz is having a fine first season at the Saint Louis helm, coaching the Billikens to a 6-2 league mark that has them just a game behind George Mason entering the weekend. They’ve recovered from some pre-Christmas blues when the Billikens dropped three in a row – favored in 2 of the losses.
Saint Louis is coming off a hard-fought win over VCU, a 78-69 final with the Billikens getting 5½ points. That game featured a fight in the stands that halted action near the end of the game, and the final just got past a 144-point total to end a run of 9-straight ‘under’ winners for the Billikens.
Flyers Have Won 8 of Last 10 Clashes
Dayton swept the two meetings a year ago, failing to cover a double-digit spread in the win at home before coasting to a 100-83 winner in St. Louis. That contest gave the Flyers their eighth win in the last 10 contests and a 42-30 lead in the series.
It also went ‘over’ a 149.5-point total to stop a 3-game winning streak for ‘under’ bettors in the rivalry. The scoreboard target for this contest is 144.5, and the ‘under’ is the correct college basketball pick.
NCAAB Pick: Dayton/Saint Louis Under 144.5 (-108) at Heritage Sports
*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.
