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Games To Bet in Big Ten: Top-10 Heavyweights on Collision Course
Both ranked teams in action on Tuesday took care of business with Illinois and Wisconsin posting home wins. While there won’t be a matchup of ranked teams until early March in the Big Ten, there are some noteworthy matchups for those making college basketball picks to keep their eyes on.
Purdue has a two-game lead on Illinois with Wisconsin sitting 2½ games back in the Big Ten standings. Michigan is the only team in the Big Ten with a losing record. Purdue is the only Big Ten squad with a winning record on the road.
Purdue received 24 first-place votes to remain at No. 2 in The Associated Press and USA Today coaches poll. Illinois fell four spots to No. 14 in the AP poll and is also 14th in the coaches poll. Wisconsin tumbled nine positions to No. 20 in the AP rankings and went from ninth to 21st in the coaches poll.
Purdue is second, Illinois is 13th, and Wisconsin is 20th in the NCAA NET rankings, one of the tools used to select and seed the NCAA Tournament field. The next Big Ten team is No. 22 Michigan State.
When looking at the college basketball futures odds, Purdue (+850) has the best odds of winning the national championship. Illinois (+3500) and Wisconsin (+3500) are the next Big Ten teams listed.
Minnesota Golden Gophers (13-7 SU, 20-3 ATS) vs Purdue Boilermakers (22-2, 14-8-2 ATS)
- Date/Time: Thursday, February 15, 8:30 p.m. ET
- Minnesota vs Purdue Live Stream: TBS.com
Minnesota is 2-4 on the road and 0-1 against teams in the Top 25 in the national polls though the Golden Gophers have the best mark against the spread in the country. . Keep that in mind when it comes to the college basketball picks today.
Purdue has won three straight against Minnesota with the average margin of victory being 18.7 points. The Boilermakers look to stay perfect at home. The Boilermakers are 5-1 in the last six home games against Minnesota.
Minnesota is coming off a five-point road loss to Iowa when the Golden Gophers squandered a 20-point lead. Dawson Garcia and Braeden Carrington had 18 points each for Minnesota. Next up is a matchup with No. 2 Purdue.
Despite inconsistent scoring from the players not named Zach Edey, Purdue has won eight games in a row. Edey is averaging 26.1 points and 14.4 rebounds during the winning streak.
Zach Edey is a +382 when on the court for Purdue this season!
He’s only finished 1 game with a negative +/-, against Nebraska, which happens to be 1 of their 2 losses on the season. https://t.co/ah8xtcQONu pic.twitter.com/xaZBWylW5h
— CBB Analytics (@CBBAnalytics) February 14, 2024
This is a matchup of the two Big Ten teams with the best record against the Las Vegas odds this season.
Wisconsin Badgers (17-8 SU, 11-13-1 ATS) vs Iowa Hawkeyes (14-10 SU, 9-15 ATS)
- Date/Time: Saturday, February 17, 2:15 p.m. ET
- Wisconsin vs Iowa Live Stream: TBS.com
The good news is that Wisconsin snapped a four-game losing streak by topping Ohio State at home on Tuesday. However, it was not an overwhelming performance by a team that not long ago was fifth in the national polls.
Steven Crowl and AJ Storr each had double-doubles as all five starters played at least 31 minutes in the game.
Even after rallying from 20 points down to top Minnesota in its last game, Iowa is still just tied for eighth in the Big Ten standings. Eleven of the 14 wins for the Hawkeyes have come at home while Wisconsin is just 3-6 on the road.
The Hawkeyes rely on balanced scoring with Tony Perkins, Payton Sandfort, and Ben Krikke averaging between 14.6-15.6 points per game. Sandfort and Patrick McCaffrey each had 21 points against Minnesota.
Wisconsin has won four straight games against Iowa and is 5-0-1 against the spread in the last six matchups against the Hawkeyes. Iowa has won three of its last four home games against Wisconsin.
Wisconsin has covered against the college basketball lines in just two of its nine road games.
Michigan State Spartans (13-10-1 SU, 12-7-2 ATS) vs Michigan Wolverines (8-17 SU, 7-18-1 ATS)
- Date/Time: Saturday, February 17, 8 p.m. ET
- Michigan State vs Michigan Live Stream: TBS.com
With the teams a combined 10-17 in Big Ten play, this game might fly under the radar than the typical clash between the Spartans and the Wolverines. However, this is still one of the top rivalries in the Big Ten.
If Michigan can’t find a way to be competitive at home against the Spartans, it might be time to bring an end to Juwan Howard’s time as the Michigan head coach.
This is a key stretch for Michigan State with four straight games against unranked teams to end February. Tyson Walker is putting up 19.3 points over his last three games.
Leading scorer Dug McDaniel missed the last two games for Michigan.
Michigan State has won four of the last six meetings. The Spartans are 7-0 outright and against the spread in their last seven home games versus the Wolverines.
Only two of the last 12 games between the Cornhuskers and Fighting Illini landed over the total.
Eight of Michigan’s 12 home games this season have gone over the total.
Questions Of The Day
: Which Big Ten team has had the most games go over the total this season?
Illinois, Iowa, Northwestern, and Purdue have all seen 16 games land over the total during the 2023-24 season.
Which Big Ten teams have the best road records?
Since the start of the 2022-23 season, only Purdue (12-5) has a winning road record among Big Ten teams.
The odds and predictions in the article are based on the time of writing and publication. They may differ as to when the actual event takes place.
