NCAAB: 3 College Hoop Picks for Tuesday, January 16

We’re On Three College Hoops Games Tonight!

We’ve won four of our last six college hoop plays, and we’re back at it tonight with plays in the Big East, ACC, and Big 12. Best of luck!

Butler (11-6) @ Xavier (8-8)  -5.5 | Fox Sports 1 | 6:30 pm

Butler comes into this Big East battle off a deflating 78-72 loss at Seton Hall, a squad many thought would enter the top 25 today. Xavier is riding high following a convincing 85-85 win over Providence on the road in one of the tougher environments in the Big East. Xavier comes in ranked 25th nationally in adjusted defensive efficiency, and they’re even better defensively at home. This is a Sean Miller squad that is starting to believe it can be a player in the Big East.

I love these home conference spots, and I really like the way this Xavier squad is starting to play. I think Butler gets overwhelmed on the offensive end tonight as they struggle to get buckets consistently. Give us the X.

TCU (13-3) @ Cincinnati (12-4)  -3 | ESPN+ | 7:00 pm

TCU heads to Cincinnati riding high off of back-to-back top 10 and Big 12 wins over #9 Oklahoma and #2 Houston. Cincinnati comes in off of two crushing defeats, a 3-point loss at Baylor and a 1-point home loss to Texas. I really like this Wes Miller squad, as they are very tough at home. This is a big-time spot play as we fade TCU on the road after two massive wins. I think the Bearcats get it done.

Syracuse (11-5) @ Pittsburgh (10-6)  -6.5| ESPN | 7:00 pm

This is the second time this season that Syracuse and Pitt will meet up. The first was an 81-73 win for Syracuse at home. But now the two former Big East rivals travel to Pitt for an ACC showdown. Syracuse has really struggled on the road in ACC play as they have three 20-point road losses as Duke, UNC, and UVA all beat up on the Orange. Pitt is coming off a blowout loss at Duke, where they really struggled offensively from the get-go.

But this is a true rivalry between two teams that always get after it when they are matched up, and I just love the revenge spot here for Pitt. This is one of those lines where if it were Pitt -2, it might be a layoff play. But we like Pitt, and we’re taking them at -6.5.