Our free College Basketball picks are out for Friday, January 14th, 2022! Make sure you check our expert College Basketball picks before the action kicks off.
Look below to find our free College Basketball picks for the best games on today’s schedule!
Nebraska @ #7 Purdue – 6:30pm ET
The Nebraska Cornhuskers will meet the Purdue Boilermakers in the first of two featured Big 10 clashes on the slate for Friday. Nebraska comes into this game with a record of 6-11 and winless in the conference. Meanwhile Purdue is ranked 7th in the nation and has a record of 13-2 and with a couple of Big Ten losses.
Denis Kirilov
The Nebraska Cornhuskers have been in a lot of trouble since December. The team lost 9 out of their last 10 games in the NCAA. Despite facing some of the top teams in College Basketball, the Cornhuskers failed to amuse their fans. They kept a close distance against Michigan State, Illinois, Kansas State, and Indiana, but they never came close enough to have a chance at winning the games. However, their best performance came against Ohio State as they led by 5 points in the last 30 seconds, but eventually lost the match in overtime. Nebraska holds a 6-11 record as they highly rely on Derrick Walker to dominate in the paint on both ends.
The Purdue Boilermakers enjoyed a fantastic moment this season reaching the top spot in the rankings. They, however, lost it almost immediately following a surprising loss to Rutgers. Later on, they achieved 4 more wins before going down to the 23rd-seeded, Wisconsin, 74-69. Now, holding a 13-2 record, the team is looking to build momentum that will help them get past some challenges that are laying ahead. Purdue has some really decent players in the face of Jaden Ivey, Trevion Williams, and Zach Edey. All of them are versatile and each one of them can play well both in offense and in defense. I think that the Boilermakers are huge favorites to win it as I will confidently choose their spread in this match.
Denis’ College Basketball Pick: Purdue -20 (-110)
Tony Battalio
The Nebraska Cornhuskers come into this game with a record of 6-11 through their first 17 games on the season. They will be looking for their huge resume defining win in this one. They have had a rough go of things so far as they are currently on a four game losing streak after losing four straight Big Ten games. They have failed to pick up a win in nine of their last ten games. They are currently winless inside the Big Ten with a record of 0-6, and haven’t even come close to getting a conference victory. Things will need to change quickly for the Nebraska Cornhuskers or they will find themselves needing to pull off a miracle to make the NCAA Tournament, in fact it may be too late already.
If you aren’t lucky enough to join us in Mackey Arena tomorrow, we have a treat for you watching on @FS1. @CoachPainter will be mic’ed up for tomorrow night’s game vs. Nebraska. It won’t be live, but you’ll hear a lot of great insight & interactions.
Set your DVRs. pic.twitter.com/ERzV0QRfHm
— Purdue Mens Basketball (@BoilerBall) January 13, 2022
The Purdue Boilermakers come into this game with a record of 13-2 on the season. One of those losses came in the month of January to the Wisconsin Badgers at home by a score of 74-69. Their loss was also a Big Ten Conference loss after they fell to Rutgers via a half court buzzer beater on the road back in early December. In their last game they beat Penn State on the road to pick up a much needed conference win. As for the result of this one, I have the Boilermakers picking up the victory at home and covering the spread in the process against a terrible Nebraska team.
Tony’s College Basketball Pick: Purdue -20 (-110)
Noah Dunlap
The Nebraska Cornhuskers enter this one as the very definition of a below-average to simply bad basketball team. They come into this one having lost four straight, and nine of their last ten, with the only win being a non-D1 win. To be fair, they’ve played a reasonably tough schedule to this point, but they haven’t really been able to stay competitive in any of these. They’re virtually solely reliant upon the talent of Derrick Walker, which doesn’t bode well for them against even simply decent teams.
As for Purdue, they enter this one at 13-2 and are ranked seventh in the country. Both losses have been conference losses, which could be somewhat concerning, but in the end I think they’re going to be fine, and in my opinion, they remain the favorite to win the Big Ten, along with Wisconsin, who handed them one of their losses. They have a few pretty good wins, as they knocked off Villanova and Iowa, and I think the only play in this one would to be to take the Boilermakers to get another big win over an outmatched Nebraska squad.
Noah’s College Basketball Pick: Purdue -20 (-110)
Michigan @ #25 Illinois – 9pm ET
The second featured Big Ten clash of the evening pits the Michigan Wolverines against the Illinois Fighting Illini. The Wolverines come into this one unranked and with a record of 7-6 after being hyped up before the year. Meanwhile Illinois is ranked 25th in the nation and has a record of 12-3.
Denis Kirilov
Michigan have been one of the biggest disappointments this season in the NCAA. The team has been considered a potential title contender just to go for 7 wins and 6 losses deep into the campaign. The Wolverines showed their first concerning signals in their third game against Seton Hall. They lost it, but still got a chance at winning the opening mini-tournament. However, in the final, they were simply whitewashed by Arizona who broke Michigan’s defense, scoring 80 points. Then, the Wolverines lost to North Carolina by 21 points and surprising losses to Minnesota, UCF, and Rutgers worsened the situation for the team.
Illinois has also been underperforming in their most important games so far. They started off the campaign quite hesitantly with 2 losses in 4 matches. Marquette and Cincinnati took the better of the Fighting Illini as the Bearcats defeated them by 20 points. After a couple of victories over teams like Kansas State, Rutgers, Iowa, the team came up short against Arizona. This marked their third and last loss for the season so far. Kofi Cockburn elevated his game which brought five more wins for the Fighting Illini, improving their record to 12-3. Cockburn leads the way for Illinois with big numbers averaging 22 points and 12.5 rebounds on 60.1% FGM. The 7’0’’ Jamaican center has been nothing short of amazing as he is undoubtedly their biggest asset this campaign. Since Michigan had a lot of troubles against big players this season, I think it won’t be any different tomorrow. Hence, I will choose Illinois’ spread in this one.
Denis’ College Basketball Pick: Illinois -9.5 (-120)
Tony Battalio
The Michigan Wolverines had a lot of preseason hype surrounding them that they just haven’t quite lived up to at this point in the season. They come into this Big Ten conference matchup with a record of 7-6 and unranked and outside of the top 25 of the country. They started the season ranked just outside the top 5 at number six but clearly that didn’t last long. They come into this game on a two game losing streak after losses to Rutgers and Central Florida. Now they will be playing what was supposed to be their third straight ranked team, but games against Michigan State and Purdue were postponed to a later date. Now they will be desperate for a win, and will have to play near perfect basketball to beat this Fighting Illini team.
Tomorrow Night: Dark Mode Activated 🕶 pic.twitter.com/C3JkDRtfnY
— Michigan Men’s Basketball (@umichbball) January 13, 2022
The previously mentioned Illinois Fighting Illini are coming into this game with a record of 12-3. Illinois is ranked just inside the top 25 in the county at number 25. Led by potential player of the year award winner, Kofi Cockburn, they have put together a great season thus far, and they will look to carry it into conference play and the NCAA Tournament. The Fighting Illini are currently on a six game winning streak that they will be looking to extend. What’s even more impressive is they are undefeated in a very competitive Big Ten with a record of 5-0 as they are tied for first with Michigan State. As for the result of this one, I have the Fighting Illini picking up their seventh straight win and conference win number 7 with a victory over the Wolverines.
Tony’s College Basketball Pick: Illinois -9.5 (-120)
Noah Dunlap
After making a deep run to the Final Four last year, this Michigan Wolverines team has been a complete and utter disaster, as they simply imploded early in the season, and haven’t been able to find their way back. Their 7-6 record is atrocious, and when you look at some of their losses, it just doesn’t get any better, as a few of the losses are to Minnesota, Rutgers, and UCF. Arguably the biggest issue with all of this however, is the fact that they returned many of the same players from last year’s team, and they just can’t seem to get any production from those same guys this year.
After a slightly disappointing non-conference slate, the Illinois Fighting Illini look to have found their rhythm again and are looking more like the team that many people were expecting to see all year long. They’re being led by Kofi Cockburn, a guy who’s in the conversation as Wooden Award candidate, given to the National Player of the Year, and as long as he manages to stay healthy this team is going to stick around and be able to potentially make a deep run come March. With that being the case, I don’t see them slipping up at home to a Wolverines team that can’t seem to find out what’s wrong in order to fix it. Illinois wins this one with ease.
Noah’s College Basketball Pick: Illinois -9.5 (-120)
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*Odds and spreads correct at time of publication, courtesy of FanDuel.
