Could another top-10 team fall on the road? 2 bets for Wednesday
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College basketball fans watched another AP top-10 team lose on the road to an unranked opponent when Syracuse defeated North Carolina on Tuesday night. This is becoming a common trend throughout the season as home teams are winning at a historically high rate. Keep that in mind as you dig through college basketball games.
We only have two best bets for Wednesday's underwhelming slate, so let's get to them.
Tennessee @ Arkansas (+8.5, O/U 150.5)
Arkansas is having a disastrous season. This is a risky play because it's hard to know if a college team will quit at some point when there's virtually nothing left to play for.
Despite sitting toward the bottom of the SEC standings, Arkansas has won two of its last three games. The Razorbacks are a home underdog against a top-10 team, and I'd be surprised if Arkansas can win, but an 8.5-point spread is too much against Tennessee, which has struggled on the road at times this season and is 1-4 against the spread as an away favorite. The Volunteers' offensive inconsistency has haunted them, but Dalton Knecht is a lethal scorer. If Arkansas can slow him down, it'll keep the game close at home.
Pick: Arkansas +8.5
Maryland team total: Under 76.5 points
Maryland is a 5-point favorite at home against Iowa in a game that features two teams competing for spots in the NIT Tournament rather than the NCAA Tournament. The Terps should win this game at home, but they'll be relying on their conference-best defense, not their suspect offense.
Maryland scored more than 76 points in just one of its 13 Big Ten games so far. It has the conference's second-worst scoring offense. Yes, Iowa has the second-worst scoring defense in the conference. However, Maryland failed to break 76 points against Michigan or Indiana, which both have comparable defenses to Iowa.
The Terps' only reliable scorer is Jahmir Young, and they are a horrific shooting team - they connect on only 29% of their threes. This should be a close contest, but a low-scoring one.
Odds: -115 (playable to -130)
Sam Oshtry is a sports betting writer at theScore. You can follow him on X @soshtry for more betting coverage.