We’ve got quality over quantity on the Tuesday college basketball card, as there are 22 games on the docket, but quality matchups in the SEC, Big Ten, ACC, and Big 12 top the list. We’ve also got the A-10, Big East, Mountain West, Horizon, and Ohio Valley in action tonight, with games that aren’t going to grab as much attention or as many headlines.

Tip times run from 6:30 p.m. ET to 11 p.m. ET, so it will be a full evening of hoops, including games on SEC Network, FS1, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, TNT, and Peacock. That means you have all sorts of chances to get eyes on these teams and maybe file away some good nuggets for upcoming matchups. I already previewed Purdue vs. Nebraska separately, but I’ve got thoughts on some other games.

For more college basketball best bets today, check out Greg Peterson’s daily article and Tyler Shoemaker’s TSI Projections/Best Bets on weekdays.

As always, I want to give a shout-out to Bart Torvik (BartTorvik.com), Erik Haslam (Haslametrics.com), and KenPom, as they provide a lot of great data.

This season, we’ve also connected with CBBAnalytics.com to access their data and I’ll be working that into my article. Use promo code VSIN30 for $30 off at CBB Analytics and find your betting edge.

This article will run Monday-Saturday. Lines will be from DraftKings, as they are widely available to readers. Shop around for the best prices.

Check the latest college basketball odds for legal U.S. sportsbooks across the country and our Vegas odds if you share a state with us here at VSiN. Also, give the college basketball betting splits (DraftKings) and Circa CBB Betting Splits a look for these or any other college basketball games today have your interest.

Odds from DraftKings Sportsbook at time of publish.

Arkansas Razorbacks (-5.5, 160.5) at LSU Tigers

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9 p.m. ET

LSU looks for revenge tonight against Arkansas after dropping an 85-81 decision in Fayetteville back on Jan. 24. Unfortunately, they’ll have to do so without their leading scorer in that game, as Dedan Thomas Jr. is out with a foot injury for LSU. He had 18 points and five assists in the game, but it wasn’t exactly an efficient performance, as he was 6-of-17 on 2s and 1-for-3 on 3s.

Personally, I could make an argument that they have the chance to be a lot more efficient on offense without him, but the SEC is not a great place to be without your point guard, especially one who has averaged 6.5 assists per game against just 1.6 turnovers per contest. He’s missed most of SEC play and the Tigers enter this game 13th in adjusted offensive efficiency and 16th in adjusted defensive efficiency. 

The first game was an odd one. Arkansas did not come out ready to play and actually trailed at home by eight early in the second half before going on a monster run to lead by as many as eight with five minutes to play before eventually winning by four. LSU was +15 in points at the free throw line and +7 in attempts, as the Razorbacks were inexplicably just 7-of-18 at the stripe.

Even though they had major issues at the line, they shot 24-of-38 on 2s and 10-of-22 on 3s to rack up 1.237 points per possession. I have to assume that a coach like John Calipari is able to make some defensive adjustments for this game. Also, Arkansas is second in FT Rate on defense in conference play, so I’m not entirely sure what happened in that first game, but it was a rare type of performance from them. LSU is eighth in FT Rate, so they get to the line at an okay rate, but don’t normally have that big of an edge.

This line has moved out to Razorbacks -5.5 with Thomas out again and what we saw in the first meeting and I still think that’s a little short.

Pick: Arkansas -5.5

Washington State Cougars at Gonzaga Bulldogs (-21.5, 155.5)

11 p.m. ET

The shocking loss to Portland may have served as a wake-up call for Gonzaga, as the Bulldogs bounced back with an 81-61 win over Oregon State with 1.457 points per possession in a game that was played to just 56 possessions. But, they also allowed 1.098 PPP and we can definitively say that this is not the same team that we saw earlier this season or have seen in previous seasons.

The loss of 6-foot-10 junior Braden Huff has been a big deal. Huff is rehabbing in his native Chicago and so it seems like his season may very well be over or we’re getting to the time of making a decision with his knee. Huff is shooting almost 70% on 2s this season and 78.1% at the rim. He’s a big piece of this offensive puzzle.

If we look at the On/Off metrics from CBB Analytics with and without Huff on the floor, Gonzaga is clearly worse. Over the last five games, they are -7.9 in Net Rating, with -4.2 in Offensive Rating and -3.7 in Defensive Rating. They’ve also slowed down their tempo by about three possessions per 40 minutes, with that Oregon State outlier accounting for a lot of that. But, they’re scoring 6.5 fewer points per 40 minutes in the last five games without Huff and have 6.3 fewer assists per 40 minutes. Opponents haven’t fully taken advantage as others have stepped up in his absence, but Gonzaga is not firing on all cylinders like the same group.

Huff missed his first game on Jan. 15, coincidentally, against Washington State. Gonzaga won by 21 in Pullman in that one, but they are just tied for 166th in eFG% offense in the seven games that they’ve played without Huff. They are 105th in eFG% defense. Nobody will question whether or not they’re still a good team, but are they a team that can regularly go out and cover these types of numbers?

Interestingly enough, inclusive of that game against Gonzaga, Washington State is seventh in the nation in eFG% offense at 60.2% since Jan. 15. They are fourth in the nation in 3P% at 43.6% and 65th in the nation in 2P%. Defensively, they’ve had issues, but a team shooting the ball well and taking a high rate of 3-point shots is getting a 20-point head start here and I think they’re a worthwhile bet.

Pick: Washington State +21.5

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