Free College Basketball Picks Today for Friday, November 17th, 2023

Our free College Basketball picks are out for Friday, November 17th, 2023! Make sure you check our College Basketball picks before the action kicks off.

Look below to find our free College Basketball picks for the five best games on today’s schedule!

Radford @ #24 James Madison – 7PM ET

Tony Battalio

Radford comes into this game looking to pull off an early season upset of a top 25 ranked and undefeated James Madison team. Radford is one of the more respected and well-known mid majors in the country and they have made some noise in the NCAA tournament before. They will be looking to make some noise early on in this regular season as they look to reach their ultimate goal of making the NCAA tournament this season and a résumé building victory like this one could go a long way. They come into this game having split their first four games of the regular season and they will be looking for their third victory of the year here on Friday night on the road against James Madison. They will need to find a way to slow down a highflying James Madison offense that is averaging around 100 points per game throughout the early part of the regular season. They will also be looking to find a way to bounce back from their blowout loss to VCU in their previous contest that they look to get back into the win column and get back on track. 

James Madison started their regular season off of the bang by upsetting top 25 ranked Michigan State, and they have continued to keep the momentum rolling throughout their first three games of the season. They will be looking to grab a fourth consecutive victory here on Friday night at home in this campus game for the Cancun challenge against Radford. They are averaging nearly 100 points per game on the offensive end of the court but they need to clean up their play on the defensive end of the court as they are giving up about 90 points per game and that is not sustainable for long-term success. They’ve put up back-to-back 100 point performances in their previous two games against Howard and their double overtime victory against Kent State as well. James Madison will be looking for a fourth consecutive victory and a third consecutive triple digit scoring performance here on Friday night at home against Radford. Regardless of the final score I still look for James Madison to grab the victory in this game and cover the spread in the process.

Oral Roberts @ #13 Texas A&M – 8PM ET

Tony Battalio

Oral Roberts will be looking to pull off an upset of Texas A&M here on Friday night on the road in College Station as they look to get the momentum rolling early on in the regular season. They come into this game as losers of two out of their first three games on the season. Now they will be looking to get things going in the right direction with a huge victory over a top 15 team in the country here on Friday night on the road. They come into this game after being blown out by Missouri State and they will be looking to bounce back here on Friday night against Texas A&M as they search for their second victory of the regular season. They will need to clean up their play on the defensive end of the court as they are giving up over 70 points per game the majority of the time and that is not something that will be sustainable for success for Oral Roberts throughout the regular season. They will need to play an efficient turnover free game of basketball to get the job done here on Friday night against Texas A&M. 

Texas A&M is off to a red hot start this season as they come into this game undefeated through their first three games of the year with some quality victories on their résumé already. They come into this game looking to build up on their three game-winning streak after coming off of back-to-back victories against Ohio State and Southern Methodist in their previous two games. Their victory over SMU was a comfortable double digit victory and they were able to pull away from Ohio State late as well and that is something they will be looking to replicate here on Friday night against Oral Roberts at home as they look to start the season with a fourth consecutive win to further establish themselves as a top 25 team in the nation. This is a consistent Texas A&M team that has three double digit scores on the roster and I expect them to pick up another efficient victory here on Friday night against Oral Roberts at home. I also look for the Aggies to cover the spread in the process.

UNC Greensboro @ #14 Arkansas – 8PM ET

Tony Battalio

UNC Greensboro comes into this game looking to pull off a solid early season upset of a top 15 ranked Arkansas team here on Friday night on the road in Fayetteville. It would be a massive momentum boost for UNC Greensboro throughout the early part of the regular season as they look to get back to the NCAA tournament this year as well. It has been an average start to the season for them as they have split their first two games of the year and they will be looking for their second victory of the season here on Friday night on the road against a tough Arkansas team. They will have to rely on Keyshaun Langley after his 26 point performance in their previous game as he will be looking to lead the Spartans to an upset of the Razorbacks here on Friday night as they look to get the momentum rolling on the young season. They are coming off of a close lost of Vanderbilt and they will be looking to take down an SEC team this time around with a quality performance here on Friday night. 

The Arkansas Razorbacks are off to a perfect start this season, and they will be looking to grab their fourth consecutive victory of the year here on Friday night at home against UNC Greensboro. Arkansas comes into this game ranked 14th in the country and they will be looking to further establish themselves as a top 15 team in the nation with another quality performance here in this one. The expression has always been “ I’ll believe it when I see pigs fly” well this Arkansas offense has been high flying throughout their first three games of the season as they are averaging nearly 90 points a game on the year, and they will be looking to have another offensive explosion here on Friday night at home as well. This will be the fourth consecutive mid-major school that Arkansas faces to open up the season and they will be hoping to maintain that momentum when they move on to tougher competition, as conference play it’s closer and closer. I expect them to grab a comfortable victory here on Friday night at home over UNC Greensboro as I look for the Razorbacks to cover the spread in the process.

UC Riverside @ #20 North Carolina – 8PM ET

Tony Battalio

UC Riverside comes into this game looking to pull off a massive upset of the 20th ranked North Carolina Tar Heels here on Friday night. They are off to a less than impressive start to the season as they come into this game as a losers of two out of their first three games on the year. They will be looking to bounce back and grab a massive second victory here on Friday night against North Carolina as it would provide them with a huge momentum boost heading into the rest of November. The UC Riverside Highlanders will need to clean up their play on the defensive end of the court as they are giving up north of seventy points per game throughout the early part of the regular season. That is certainly not sustainable for long-term success throughout the year and that is a lot of the reason why they are currently on a two game losing streak coming into this game on Friday night. They will be looking to bounce back after back-to-back blowout losses to Utah and Portland here on Friday night against North Carolina. 

North Carolina is off to a solid start this season and they will be looking to keep the momentum rolling here on Friday night against UC Riverside at home. The Tar Heels come into this game undefeated through their first two games of the season, and they will be looking to improve upon their ranking early on in the season as this is one of the lowest rankings they’ve had in quite some time this early on in the year. They’ve been putting up plenty of points throughout their first two games of the season as they come into this game averaging just under 90 points per game. They will be looking to replicate or surpass that number here on Friday night at home against UC Riverside. They have picked up back-to-back blowout victories against Lehigh and Radford and their previous two games and they will be looking to keep the momentum rolling here on Friday night when they face their third consecutive mid-major team of the season. That is exactly what I expect as I look for North Carolina to pick up the win and cover the spread in the process at home.

Valparaiso @ #23 Illinois – 8PM ET

Tony Battalio

Valparaiso comes into this game, looking to secure a solid upset on the road against Illinois here on Friday night. It would be a massive momentum boost to open up the regular season and it would allow them to put a top 25 victory on their résumé in the process. They come into this game after picking up two victories in their first three games of the season and they will be looking to make it three out of four with another quality performance here on Friday night on the road in Champaign. They have been pretty efficient on the offensive end of the floor throughout their first three games, as they are averaging around 74 points per game, and they will be looking to replicate and surpass that number here on Friday night on the road again Illinois, as they look for a top 25 victory early in the year for their third win of the season. They are coming off of a close victory against Green Bay and they will be looking to grab a second consecutive victory here in this game on Friday night.

Illinois comes into this game to bounce back after dropping a game to Marquette in their previous contest. It was a solid top 25 clash early on in the regular season and unfortunately for Illinois they were just unable to get the job done against a very solid Marquette Golden Eagles team. Now they will be looking to bounce back and pick up a victory against Valparaiso at home here on Friday night to pick up their third victory of the season and get things rolling in the right direction heading into the remainder of November. They are still expected to have a respectable year, and they will be looking to build up as much momentum as possible throughout the remainder of their nonconference schedule before entering into a competitive Big Ten conference. I expect them to bounce back in a big way here on Friday night at home against Valparaiso as I look for Illinois to pick up the victory and cover the spread in the process.

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*Odds and spreads correct at time of publication, courtesy of BetMGM.