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College Basketball Best Bets, Dec. 9: UConn vs Arkansas Pine-Bluff, Seton Hall vs Rutgers – NBC Sports
Vaughn Dalzell predicts the winner of Seton Hall and Rutgers, plus how to bet on UConn versus Arkansas Pine-Bluff.
Rutgers is back on the road and we are back on the home team as the Knights dropped a contest at Wake Forest to give them two-straight losses, whereas Seton Hall is in a good spot to get a home victory.
These two met last year at Rutgers and Seton Hall won 45-43 in one of the most boring or thrilling games of the year pending what you like. Both Seton Hall and Rutgers play similar defensive tempos again this year, but the Knights play much quicker on offense (23rd vs 134th), which could be contributing to their poor shooting.
Rutgers is shooting 30.6% from three (262nd), 45.2% from two (299th), and 65.2% from the free-throw line (311th) for a 200th-ranked offensive efficiency. On the other hand, Seton Hall ranks 7th in the country in free-throw shooting (80.7%) and 86th in two-point shooting (53.3%), plus has an edge in rebounding.
Seton Hall ranks 33rd in offensive rebounding percentage (36%) and Rutgers is 324th in defensive rebounding percentage (43.9%), which will give the Pirates plenty of second-chance points.
The Pirates also are a top 100 team in both offensive and defensive efficiency, something both of Rutgers’ last two opponents have in common with Seton Hall (Rutgers lost both by a combined 37 points).
Seton Hall lost three of the last four games, but those losses came versus Baylor, Iowa, and USC, three March Madness hopefuls. Rutgers is back on the road, where they lost 76-57 at Wake Forest on Wednesday.
The Knights are 0-2 on road/neutral courts this year and are a combined 9-22 away from home dating back to the start of the 2021 season. I grabbed Seton Hall -3.5 at -110 odds and would go to -4.
Pick: Seton Hall -3.5 (1u)
This is stop two on our tour of fading Arkansas Pine-Bluff (APB) after they allowed 111 points to Gonzaga on Tuesday.
APB flies across the country to face UConn who posted 87 points in a win over North Carolina after losing to Kansas (69-65). UConn doesn’t play until Friday the 15th, so a full week off after this game allows the Huskies to run up the score and not worry about rest.
APB ranks third-worst in the country on defense when it comes to efficiency, effective field goal percentage (62%), two-point percentage (65.3%), and rebounding percentage (40.7%). Oklahoma put up 52 in the first half, and Gonzaga posted 59 on APB, so expect a quick start from UConn.
UConn scored 107 points on Stonehill and 95 on Northern Arizona in the first two games of the season. This will be one of the highest-scoring games from the Huskies all year, similar to what Oklahoma (107) and Gonzaga (111) did in the past two games versus APB.
I played the Huskies’ Team Total of Over 99.5 at -115 odds and would go to 101.5.
Pick: UConn Team Total Over 99.5 (1u)
Season Record: 13-4 (76.4%) +8.48 units
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