College Basketball’s Best Bets for December 22: Our Top 3 Picks including Arizona vs Tennessee and Duke vs Virginia Tech

Davidson harkened memories of the Stephen Curry days last night by upsetting No. 10 Alabama on their home floor last night, and Villanova looked like the team that it was expected to be as they shook off a recent losing streak to take care of No. 18 Xavier at home last night. We were also reminded of the COVID-19 pandemic and the havoc it’s wreaking on sports schedules after Kansas’s game at Colorado was canceled.

Tonight, sixth-ranked Arizona puts its perfect record on the line in a tough non-conference matchup on the road at Tennessee, and several other ranked teams are in action.

Let’s take a look at the best of the best with our NCAAB best bets for tonight in men’s college basketball.

(6) Arizona Wildcats vs. (19) Tennessee Volunteers

The Bet: Arizona +2

Yes, home-court advantage is a big deal in college basketball–such a big deal, in fact, that an undefeated Arizona team is an underdog at 8-2 Tennessee. But the stat that we’re focusing on here is how Tennessee has been shut down by good defenses so far this year.

The Vols have had three challenges this year and lost two of them. They beat North Carolina 89-72 but lost to then-No. 5 Villanova 71-53 and to Texas Tech, who since was in the top 25, 57-52 in overtime. What the Wildcats and Red Raiders have in common is tight defenses, and they held Tennessee to under 60 in both games. Arizona is giving up 63 points per game, which is more than the Vols’ 58 allowed per game, but the Wildcats offense is putting up 91 per contest as opposed to Tennessee’s 78.5 per game.

In the Wildcats’ two most challenging games, they pulled out an 83-79 win at Illinois two weekends ago and beat then-No. 4 Michigan on a neutral court, 80-62. Arizona (11-0) has also been solid against the spread this year, going 8-2-1 ATS compared to Tennessee’s 6-4 ATS record. Defense doesn’t tend to falter as much in a hostile road environment, so we like Arizona to squeak by with a win here tonight.

Virginia Tech Hokies vs. (2) Duke Blue Devils

The Bet: Duke -9

Second-ranked Duke opens its final ACC schedule under head coach Mike Krzyzewski, who is retiring at the end of the season, when the Blue Devils host Virginia Tech tonight at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

The Hokies come into the game with the 10th-ranked defense in Division 1, allowing 56.5 points per game, but they will be tested by a Duke offense that’s ranked fifth in the country with 86 points per game. The problem here for Virginia Tech, however, will be keeping up on offense, even if they are able to limit the Duke offense a bit. The Hokies are averaging 71 points per game while Duke is allowing 64 per contest. In their four losses, VT has scored between 57 and 61 points. The Blue Devils, meanwhile, have put up 84 points in seven of their last eight games.

In their head-to-head history, Duke has won three of the past four meetings, and all of their wins came by double digits. Both teams have been decent against the spread this year, with VT going 8-4 ATS and Duke is 6-2-3 ATS. But the Blue Devils are notoriously hard to be at home, and this Virginia Tech team doesn’t appear to have enough firepower to compete on the road.

Wyoming Cowboys vs. Stanford Cardinals

The Bet: Wyoming +1.5

Wyoming, with a 9-1 record and 6-2-1 against the spread, faces a challenge from the Pac-12 in Stanford in the Diamond Head Classic in Hawaii on Wednesday night.

The Cowboys are led by Graham Ike, who is averaging 19.6 points per game and 8.5 rebounds per contest. Stanford, meanwhile, is paced by Harrison Ingram with 12.8 points and 6.9 rebounds per game. Wyoming is one of the better teams in the nation at protecting the ball, as their 14.2% turnover ratio is 11th-best in the nation, while Stanford is only forcing a turnover on 18% of possessions, which is 260th in Division 1.

This will be Wyoming’s third game against a Pac-12 team this season, as they lost 94-65 at Arizona two weeks ago but won at Washington in overtime on Nov. 18. The Cardinal, 6-4 on the season and just 3-6-1 ATS, have struggled away from home, losing at Santa Clara, Baylor, and Colorado and on a neutral court against Texas over the weekend. This is Wyoming’s first neutral-site game, but they are 3-1 both straight up and against the spread away from their home court. We believe there’s a little major-conference bias happening with the spread here, as the Cowboys are scoring nine more points per game than Stanford and allowing seven fewer per contest. We like Wyoming to technically pull off the upset here, but we won’t be surprised to see it.