We have a monster college basketball slate on Tuesday, as 16 of the AP Poll's top-25 teams are in action, including three games featuring ranked teams.
While Kentucky vs. Louisville is the spotlight, there's plenty of value elsewhere in the sport.
Read below for college basketball best bets, including three NCAAB expert picks and predictions for Tuesday, November 11.
College Basketball Best Bets
| Game | Time (ET) | Pick |
|---|---|---|
  | 7 p.m. | |
  | 7:30 p.m. | |
  | 8:30 p.m. | |
Specific betting recommendations come from the sportsbook offering preferred odds as of writing. Always shop for the best price using our NCAAB Odds page, which automatically surfaces the best lines for every game. | ||
Dayton vs. Cincinnati
By Jim Root
This is a major step up in competition for both teams. Both Dayton and Cincinnati opened the season with two buy games, and they followed a similar track: easy blowout in the opener, much more lackadaisical in the second contest.
This meeting will tell us a lot about both squads.
Pace is going to be a key piece to monitor. Wes Miller’s Bearcats have clearly made a point to push the ball more to start the season, hunting transition opportunities.
But against Dayton’s disciplined defense, those opportunities could be few and far between.
I anticipate this one being played much more in the half-court than either of Cincinnati’s first two games (80 and 75 possessions).
If that's indeed the case, then the under has real appeal here. It may not be as simple as last year, when Cincy topped Dayton, 66-59, in a 64-possession brawl.
However, given the sturdiness of both defenses, the sticker shock of playing far more athletic opponents than either team faced in the opener, and my assessment of the pace, this angle is one I need to support.
I would bet the under down to 143 points.
Pick: Under 146.5 (Play to 143)
Check out Jim Root's full article on this early-season matchup:
Yale vs. Quinnipiac
By Evan Abrams
Yale and Quinnipiac both reside in Connecticut, but that's not the only similarities these teams have. Both the Bulldogs and Bobcats were chosen to win their respective conference in the preseason, and now they're going head-to-head in a non-conference matchup from Hamden, CT.
Our very own "Early Home Dogs" system expects this game to be much closer than the spread indicates, giving us an edge on the Bobcats.
This system targets early-season college basketball home teams catching points within their first five games. These squads often return solid cores from the previous season, typically winning more than 10 games, yet are undervalued by the market due to early uncertainty or stronger non-conference opponents.
Quinnipiac returned Jaden Zimmerman and Amarri Monroe, two of its top three scorers from last season. The Bobcats also won 20 games in 2024-25 and have started this campaign with two lopsided results against St. John's and Central Connecticut State. This game is much more evenly matched than those two affairs.
Playing at home early provides comfort and familiarity during a period when new lineups and rotations are still stabilizing across the country. The energy of a home crowd, especially in smaller college arenas, can level the playing field.
Bettors tend to overrate established programs in these spots, creating value on competitive home underdogs that are often better prepared than their price suggests.
Pick: Quinnipiac +7.5
Texas Tech vs. Illinois
One major difference between college basketball and its professional big brother is tempo.
The most up-tempo team in the NBA is the Miami Heat, playing at a breakneck pace of 109 possessions per game. The league’s snail, the Los Angeles Clippers, averages 98.6 possessions per game. The Clippers would have to play about 10% faster to go from the bottom of the Association to the top, in terms of pace.
In the world of college basketball, there’s a massive chasm between fast and slow teams. Playing 40 minutes per game, instead of the NBA’s 48 minutes, IU Indianapolis leads the nation in tempo with 89.5 possessions per night.
The slowest team? Seton Hall at a glacial pace of 62.2 per game. The Pirates would have to throttle up their tempo by 43.9% to reach the sport’s top team.
I bring this up because point spreads aren't even remotely equal when you factor in tempo. Backing a five-point underdog in a game between two snails is completely different from backing a five-point ‘dog in a shootout between two tempo-pushers.
This leads us to Illinois and Texas Tech. The Fighting Illini love to play fast. Last season, Brad Underwood’s team finished 16th nationally in tempo (74.4 possessions per game), and they’re in the same neighborhood this season.
It makes sense given the offensive weaponry Underwood has assembled. In each of the Illini's games this season, they’ve dropped 113 points, all while easing their All-American candidate, Andrej Stojakovic, back into the fold following his knee injury.
If they succeed in dictating an up-tempo game, they may be able to drag the Red Raiders to the deep end of the pool, outscoring Texas Tech in a blowout.
What’s interesting in this game is that Texas Tech, while capable of scoring in the 80s, would much rather grind this game down to a crawl.
Grant McCasland’s brand is very much that of a defensive coach. Before arriving in Northwest Texas, he averaged 23 wins per season at North Texas by squeezing the life out of opponents in the half-court.
In short order, he’s imprinted that identity on his teams in Lubbock, while playing slow (264th last season).
The difference between his North Texas teams and his first two years in the Hub City is that the Red Raiders have the talent to play highly efficient basketball on the offensive end. Last spring, Tech finished fifth in offensive efficiency en route to the Elite Eight.
And when you double-click into some of Texas Tech’s games last season, you can see it regularly winning the tempo battle.
In the Red Raiders’ first meetings with Oklahoma State (12th) and Arizona (49th), they prevented both the Cowboys and Wildcats from doing anything in transition. With no opportunity to run, Arizona and Oklahoma State both scored just 54 points, finding zero success in the half-court.
I’ll put my faith and money behind McCasland gumming up the works here. In a half-court battle, Christian Anderson and JT Toppin will keep this inside the number and threaten an outright upset.
And I’ll leave you with this stat: When Illinois was held to 70 points or less in regulation last season, it went 1-7 straight up.
Pick: Texas Tech +4
