Friday College Basketball tips: Illinois fancied to cover the spread
Tom Collins
14 January 2022
The college basketball season is reaching its midway point after two months of exhilarating and informative action. Baylor (15-1), led by talented freshman guard Kendell Brown, remains the number one team in the country as they seek a second successive Championship title under coach Scott Drew after fending off Gonzaga in the 2021 final.
However, Tuesday’s shock defeat to Big 12 conference rivals Texas Tech, who came back from a 15-point deficit, has left the Bears in a vulnerable position. Gonzaga (12-2) had the opportunity to strengthen their claims of leading the nation against West Coast leaders BYU (14-3) earlier this week and took it with open arms, winning 110-83 after accumulating 61 points in the first half. There is a strong chance that the Bulldogs will jump to the top of the rankings on Monday.
With the leading teams resting ahead of their weekend fixtures, the focus is on the Atlantic 10 conference courtesy of two juicy matchups. Here are Tom Collins’ NCAA basketball picks for Friday’s slate of games.
VCU Rams (+2.0) @ St Bonaventure Bonnies (-2.0)
Money Line: VCU 2.14 | SBU 1.73
Tip-off time: 12:30am (GMT)
An Atlantic 10 conference clash between St Bonaventure and VCU is always hotly contested with little separating the two teams, which is reflected in the points spread on offer for Friday’s game. The Bonnies hold a slight edge over the last ten games, winning six to the Rams’ four, and have only lost one of their last five home games in this rivalry.
However, St Bonaventure has played just once since posting their worst performance of the year against Virginia Tech in a 86-49 blowout loss on December 17, and didn’t look at their sharpest in an 80-76 overtime win against La Salle earlier this week when heavily favoured.
VCU played La Salle just four days earlier and dictated proceedings on the road, outscoring their rivals 85-66 and shooting over 40% from three-point range (9-21). A subsequent home win against George Washington extended the Rams’ winning streak to seven games and they appear to be the value against a rusty St Bonaventure side.
Recommended bet: VCU ML at 2.14
Michigan Wolverines (+10.0) @ Illinois Fighting Irish (-10.0)
Money Line: MICH 5 | ILL 1.19
Tip-off time: 2:00am (GMT)
A seventh straight double-double for standout junior centre Kofi Cockburn on Wednesday led the Fighting Irish past a gritty Nebraska team, who emerged with plenty of credit after shooting 50% from three-point range (6-12). That victory took an improving Illinois, who are fresh from entering the Top 25, to 5-0 in the Big Ten conference and level with the 10th-ranked Spartans.
Illinois next test is Michigan, a team who are yet to deliver on early-season promise and enter this matchup on the back of road defeats to UCF (85-71) and Rutgers (75-67). It is hard to envisage their fortunes changing at the State Farm Center on Friday.
With the help of Cockburn, Illinois is the seventh-best rebounding team in the country (43.7 per game) and similar dominance on the boards should take them past a floundering Wolverines side that is struggling to record conference wins.
Recommended bet: Illinois -10 at 1.89
Davidson Wildcats (+1.0) @ Richmond Spiders (-1.0)
Money Line: DAV 2.04 | RICH 1.8
Tip-off time: 2:00am (GMT)
Davidson is one of the hottest unranked teams in the nation. The Wildcats have racked up 13 straight wins since succumbing to an inspired New Mexico State in mid-November, the most impressive of which being a one-point road success over Alabama just before Christmas.
It's over a decade since Steph Curry was firing threes for Davidson, but guards Hyunjung Lee and Foster Loyer are contributing to a hire-powered scoring side who are currently leading the race in the Atlantic 10.
An aggressive defence is the chief asset for Richmond, who will play their first game for eight days after matchups against Fordham and George Mason were postponed. Inconsistency has been the downfall for the Spiders with the high of beating NC State for the first time in their history being quickly overlooked by a 83-56 loss to Saint Joseph when 12-point favourites earlier this month. Given it’s hard to predict which Richmond will turn up, Davidson is the safer play in a tight contest.
Recommended bet: Davidson ML at 2.04
Recommended bets:
Tom Collins
14 January 2022
