Best College Basketball Betting Odds February 17: Our Top Picks ATS

By Sidelines   February 17, 2022 

Best College Basketball Betting Odds February 17: Our Top Picks ATS

Rutgers is on a roll, winning their fourth-straight game (all over ranked opponents) in a relatively comfortable 70-59 victory at home over No. 12 Illinois. The Scarlet Knights, who had lost four of five — including to DePaul, UMass, and Lafayette — before beating then-No. 1 Purdue in December, are perhaps the most impressive team to make a run out of nowhere in conference play. Rutgers is 10-5 in the Big Ten with tests at No. 5 Purdue and Michigan coming up before a home date with No. 15 Wisconsin. If the Scarlet Knights can go 3-2 in their last five and not get bounced from the Big Ten tournament in the first round, it could pay off with an NCAA tournament bid. 

Elsewhere, No. 1 Gonzaga and No. 2 Auburn handled lesser conference foes on Wednesday, as each school is seemingly cruising toward a No. 1 seed in the tourney. 

Tonight, several ranked teams play at home amid another packed schedule of men’s college basketball. Let’s take a look at our NCAAB best bets for this Thursday night! 

Washington Huskies vs. (17) USC Trojans

The Bet: USC -10.5

After beating crosstown rival UCLA over the weekend, USC (21-4, 10-4 Pac-12) has a shot at second place in the conference, and the Trojans are on a good defensive run as of late as they get ready to host Washington (13-10, 8-5 Pac-12) tonight.

The Huskies have dropped two of their last three and have struggled defensively in their losses, allowing 92 to Arizona and 87 to Stanford in those defeats. USC kept Arizona to 72 points in a nine-point loss two weeks ago but otherwise had kept opponents to 68 or fewer in winning four of their last five games.

The Trojans have won and covered in four of the last five meetings between the teams, including wins by 15 or more in their two meetings last season. We expect another double-digit win for USC. 

Oregon State Beavers vs. (3) Arizona Wildcats

The Bet: Arizona -24

Arizona, riding a six-game winning streak after losing at UCLA, appears unstoppable (22-2, 12-1 Pac-12), and it’s unlikely that Oregon State (3-20, 1-12 Pac-12) will provide much of a challenge tonight. The Wildcats are massive 24-point favorites tonight. 

Outside of a two point defeat at home against California, the Beavers have lose four of their last five games by double-digits, and three of those losses were by at least 23 points. Those losses came to Colorado (twice) and Utah, two teams that aren’t nearly as talented as Arizona is.

The Wildcats, meanwhile, are coming off a 24-point win at Washington and beat Arizona State by 22 prior to that. Head to head, Arizona has won nine of the last 10 meetings and is 7-3 against the spread in that span. Overall, the Beavers haven’t covered in seven-straight games and is just 1-6-1 ATS on the road this year. The Wildcats, meanwhile, are 14-8-2 ATS on the year, which is impressive given that they have been favored in all but two of their games. 

Don’t let the big spread scare you — we like the Wildcats in this one.

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