NCAA Basketball Best Bets for January 9: Ducks and Buckeyes in Thursday Spotlight
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Willie Bee
- January 9, 2025
Top NCAAB Pick: Oregon-Ohio State Under 151 (-109) at Bookmaker (visit our Bookmaker Review)
Can the Ducks gain some revenge on the basketball court Thursday night against the Buckeyes when Oregon travels to Ohio State? Will San Francisco cover a big number at home against Portland in a West Coast Conference matchup?
These questions – and possibly more – will be answered as part of our free college basketball picks lineup.
Oregon Ducks vs. Ohio State Buckeyes
Thursday, January 09, 2025 – 06:00 PM ET at Schottenstein Center
Suddenly, it’s kind of normal to see Oregon and Ohio State get together on the collegiate sports landscape, and that can’t be a bad thing as the Ducks and Buckeyes prepare for a collision on the hardwood a little more than a week since banging helmets in the Rose Bowl.
Ducks 1-3 ATS in Big Ten Play
Oregon played two at home last week, getting blasted by Illinois and scraping by with a close win over Maryland. The Fighting Illini opened the new year with a crushing 32-point victory over the Ducks who were favored by 4½, sharpshooting their way from 3-point land by sinking 16-of-29 attempts.
It was the same 4½-point line top sportsbooks asked the Ducks to cover last Sunday against the Terrapins, and while Oregon clawed back from an early deficit, the 83-79 final fell just short of the spread.
Ohio State started the 2025 calendar with a 69-62 loss at home to Michigan State, a mild upset for the Spartans who were getting 2½ in Columbus. The final never made it to the total, leaving the Buckeyes 0-3 O/U on the Big Ten schedule at the time.
They finally enjoyed their first ‘over’ winner a few days ago at Minnesota, though it took two overtimes for the 89-88 final to jump the number. The contest was nip-&-tuck for the first 45 minutes before the Buckeyes enjoyed a 10-2 spurt to begin the second OT.
Buckeyes Lead Series 3-1
The very first NCAA Championship was on the line in the Chicago suburbs when Oregon and Ohio State met the first time in 1939. Oregon’s “Tall Firs” handed the Buckeyes a 46-33 defeat, and it has been a little more than 32 years since Ohio State beat the Ducks on a neutral court in December 1992.
The loser drops a third Big Ten game on the young season and squanders valuable ground towards seeding in the eventual conference tourney. The Buckeyes are -3 on the NCAAB odds with 150½-151 for the total, and I’ll ride the ‘under.’
NCAAB Pick: Under 151 (-109) at Bookmaker
Portland Pilots vs. San Francisco Dons
Thursday, January 09, 2025 – 10:00 PM ET at The Sobrato Center
Preseason numbers placed San Francisco in a fight for third place in the West Coast behind the usual duo of Gonzaga and Saint Mary’s. Chris Gerlufsen and his Dons are living up to those projections so far, and can ill-afford a stumble at home against a rather pitiful Portland bunch.
BetOnline (visit our BetOnline Review) is carrying the Dons as 20-point chalk while others are selling it at -20½, and all shops are in agreement with a 147-point total.
Pilots on 5-1 O/U Run
Shantay Legans steers his Pilots into the Golden Gate City with a 4-game losing streak, all four of those contests coming at the hands of WCC foes. They started off by dropping games to the two newest WCC members, Washington State and Oregon State, before being blown out by longtime league rivals Gonzaga and Saint Mary’s.
The only saving grace for bettors was Portland snagging covers in the losses to Oregon State and Gonzaga, while all four contests were ‘over’ winners.
Chris Gerlufsen’s gang saw a 4-game win streak come to an end last weekend in Pullman where Washington State dropped the Dons, 91-82. The contest was knotted at 66 apiece with about 9 minutes left before the Cougars found another gear with a 10-0 run.
That loss marked the sixth game without Ndewedo Newbury on the floor after the 6-7 senior suffered a leg injury in mid-December win over Loyola-Chicago. Newbury was averaging 24+ minutes per game and was fourth on the team in scoring (8.4 ppg) at the time of the injury.
Dons Have Won Last 4 Meetings
This is another lopsided West Coast Conference series with San Francisco having won 70 of the 100 matchups in the rivalry. The Dons swept the regular season series last year, each team covering on its own floor, and San Francisco made it a clean sweep with another win and cover in the conference tournament.
This is the biggest spread we’ve seen in this rivalry for quite some time, and my play is to take the Pilots and the points in an 82-65 San Fran win.
NCAAB Pick: Portland +20½ (-108) at Heritage Sports (visit our Heritage Sports Review)
*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.
