Our free College Basketball picks are out for Monday, January 24th, 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 national best games on today’s schedule!
#18 Texas Tech @ #7 Kansas – 9pm ET
This Big 12 top 25 matchup is set to be the best game of the Monday slate. As the 18th ranked Texas Tech Red Raiders will travel to Kansas to play the 7th ranked Kansas Jayhawks. Kansas comes into this game with a record of 16-2, while Texas Tech is 15-3.
Marko Nadin
The Kansas Jayhawks are on top of the Big 12 Conference with a 16-2 record. Both of their losses were by only one point difference against Dayton and their Monday night’s opponent Texas Tech. The Jayhawks are perfect 9-0 at home and have won their last four games overall, three of them with no more than three points difference. Senior guard Ochai Agbai is having an amazing season leading the Jayhawks with 20.4 points and 4.9 rebounds per game and is coming off a 29 points performance in a close 78-75 win over the local rival Kansas State. The Jayhawks are 15th in the country in points per game with 80.8 and are ranked 8th in field goal percentage with .497.
The Texas Tech Red Raiders are going after another postseason berth and on a great pace with a 15-4 record. Their confidence is high as they are coming off back-to-back double-digit wins over West Virginia and Iowa State. The Red Raiders defeated the Kansas Jayhawks about two weeks ago by 75-67 shooting over 50% from the field. Bryson Williams scored a season-high 22 points which is ten more than his average. Texas Tech is scoring 73.9 points per game which is almost seven less than Kansas. The Jayhawks have higher shooting percentages from the Red Raiders and are the better team overall despite the loss at the beginning of January. Guard Bob Pettiford and forward Zach Clemence are questionable for the Jayhawks while Texas Tech might miss forward KJ Allen.
Marko’s College Basketball Pick: Kansas (-280)
Tony Battalio
The Texas Tech Red Raiders come into this game with a record of 15-4. They are currently ranked 18th in the country. The Red Raiders have won their last two games after picking up back to back wins over Iowa State and West Virginia, and five out of their last six games of the season. They will be looking to pick up another top 25 victory in this game on the road in one of the hardest venues in college basketball. They have already built a great resume and a win over Kansas would just add to that.
Big Monday. Big opportunity.#Ŧogether | @emwdigital_ pic.twitter.com/h6SDCTE1tw
— Texas Tech Basketball (@TexasTechMBB) January 24, 2022
The Kansas Jayhawks are one of the most dominant teams in the history of the sport. However, their run of dominance in the conference is being tested more than ever these days. Kansas comes into this game with a record of 16-2 on the season. The Jayhawks are currently ranked inside of the top ten in the country at seventh in the nation. As for the result of this game I have the Kansas Jayhawks picking up another big victory this time at home over the Texas Tech Red Raiders. In the process, Kansas would be avenging an earlier loss to Texas Tech as well.
Tony’s College Basketball Pick: Kansas (-280)
Noah Dunlap
Kansas has been one of the best teams in the country, and they’re not really leaving any doubt about it. They enter this one at 16-2, ranked seventh in the country, and have just been dominating virtually everyone they run across. Their two losses are both by single digits, including one to this same Texas Tech team, which has proven to be a team that plays extremely well against top-25 teams.
The one issue that you can find with this Red Raider team though, is that the offense has the tendency to slack off just a bit, which is the biggest reason they have a few of the losses they do to teams like Kansas State and Iowa State, especially. The other thing to point out about TTU is the fact that they’ve played one of the best schedules in the country, which means they’re without a doubt more battle-tested than most. However, in this one, I just don’t think Kansas is going to allow themselves to let the Red Raiders pull off the season sweep over them, especially at home, so give me the Jayhawks to win a close one.
Noah’s College Basketball Pick: Kansas (-280)
Arizona State @ #16 USC – 11pm ET
This PAC-12 clash likely won’t be a close one. As the Arizona State Sun Devils head to California to play the Trojans. The Sun Devils are 6-10 on the season, while USC is 16-2 on the year. The Sun Devils will be looking for a huge upset in this one while USC is trying to keep adding wins.
Marko Nadin
The USC Trojans are having a historic season as they started with 13 straight wins. They lost 75-69 to the Stanford Cardinal on January 10th and failed to tie the school’s best start in 50 years. The Tojans are currently second in the PAC-12 with a 16-2 record and 7-1 at home. Their second loss of the season came in less than two weeks ago against the Oregon Ducks. USC is coming off two road wins against the Colorado Buffaloes and the Utah Utes. USC is averaging 74.8 points per game which is quite high given the fact that they shoot 47.4% from the field and only 61.7% from the free throw line.
The Arizona State Sun Devils are 9th in the PAC-12 with a 6-10 record. They have played only four games in 2022 dropping three of them. They are coming off a close 79-76 loss to the Stanford Cardinal but their second half performance in that game looked very promising. ASU is averaging only 63.6 points per game which is seven points less than the NCAA average. The reason for that is their field goal percentage of 39.6% and even worse 27.8% from the three point-line. That will be the key factor in this match which will probably see them losing in double-digit to USC. ASU will be without guards Jordan Williams and Justin Rochelin as well as forward Marcus Bagley which is another factor that goes in Trojans’ way. The last time these two met, the Trojans won 89-71 and a similar scenario may be expected on Monday night.
Marko’s College Basketball Pick: USC -13 (-110)
Tony Battalio
The Arizona State Sun Devils aren’t having the best of years as they come into this game. They are 6-10 through their first 16 games coming into this game on the road in Southern California. The Sun Devils will be looking to break a one game losing streak and a bad run of form as of late as they have lost four of their last five games. Arizona State will have to play a near perfect 40 minutes of basketball to pick up the victory in this game over a tough Southern Cal team in this one.
The USC Trojans come into this game with a record of 16-2 on the season. They are currently ranked just outside of the top 15 of the country at number 16. After losing two out of three games to Oregon and Stanford the Trojans have bounced back nicely by winning their last two against Colorado and Utah. The Trojans will be looking to regain their lead over the Pac-12 as they currently find themselves in third behind Arizona and UCLA. As for the result of this game I have the Trojans picking up a big win over the Sun Devils on the road.
Tony’s College Basketball Pick: USC -13 (-110)
Noah Dunlap
This one gets ugly in a hurry. Arizona State has been atrocious all year long, as they enter this one at 6-10, and they have some absolutely abysmal losses along the way. A few of these include defeats at the hands of San Francisco, UC Riverside, and a loss to Washington State in which they only managed to score 29 points…for the game. If you have an offense that can have as poor a performance as that is, against a mediocre Wazzu team, I’m just not optimistic by any means about their ability to knock off a good USC team.
As for that USC team, they enter this one having fallen just a bit as of late, especially since conference play started, but they still find themselves being a borderline top-15 team, with the potential to make a good run, depending on whether they can find their rhythm once again by the time March comes around. In this one, I don’t really think we have to worry about the Sun Devils pulling off any type of upset, as I just don’t see a way that they’re able to keep up with the Trojans for 40 minutes. Give me USC and the points at home.
Noah’s College Basketball Pick: USC -13 (110)
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*Odds and spreads correct at time of publication, courtesy of FanDuel.
