NCAA Basketball Best Bets for December 12: Cy-Hawk Rivalry Headlines Thursday Card
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Willie Bee
- December 12, 2024
Top NCAAB Pick: Iowa +6.5 (-108) at Heritage Sports (visit our Heritage Sports Review)
If there was one word that best described the college basketball season so far, it would be SNAFU. Giants are being felled left and right, and it is almost inaccurate to refer to any such outcome as an upset.
With that in mind, we head to a light Thursday NCAAB betting card, which includes a solid matchup of Midwest rivals.
Iowa State Cyclones vs. Iowa Hawkeyes Odds
Thursday, December 12, 2024 – 07:30 PM ET at Carver-Hawkeye Arena
It has been the norm for one team to take charge and cruise to the winner’s circle when Iowa State and Iowa get together on the hardwood. Each of the last six meetings has resulted in a double-digit margin of victory on the scoreboard, half of those by 20+ points.
Hawkeyes Split 2 In Early BIG Play
Iowa State toppled Marquette in the Big 12/Big East Challenge last week, the win coupled with formerly top-ranked Kansas losing twice propelling the Cyclones up the polls.
Top-rated sportsbooks installed the Cyclones as 5.5-point favorites on their own floor, and they built a nice lead before having to fend off the Golden Eagles in the second half. Iowa State shot better than 50% for the game and outscored Marquette by 10 at the charity stripe.
Fran McCaffrey’s cagers spent last week dipping their toes into Big Ten play, winning a tight one at home over Northwestern before suffering a tough loss on the road at Michigan.
Iowa blew a 17-point lead in the win over the Wildcats and needed a Josh Nix 3-pointer in the closing seconds to pull off the 80-79 win as 5.5-point chalk. The Cyclones fell behind the Wolverines 20-4, but clawed back to just come up short as 9-point road underdogs.
Home Teams Have Won Last 4
Thursday marks the 55th-straight season for the Cy-Hawk Series, and it will be played with Iowa State ranked higher than it ever has been when taking on Iowa. The last time the Cyclones were ranked as high as No. 3 was 1957, and that came during a 35-year drought in the rivalry from 1935-1970.
Iowa State was that home team last season, and the Cyclones shot their way to a 90-65 decision to easily cover the 7.5-point spread. The last bucket by the Cyclones lifted the final past the 153-point total. Iowa still holds a commanding 48-29 lead all-time.
This is a strong ISU team, no doubt, but the NCAAB odds are a little too high for the Cyclones to face a rival like Iowa on the road.
NCAAB Pick: Iowa +6.5 (-108) at Heritage Sports
New Mexico State Aggies vs. Texas Longhorns Odds
Thursday, December 12, 2024 – 08:00 PM ET at Moody Center
There’s a long history between the Texas Longhorns and the Aggies, only not these Aggies from New Mexico State. And given the mood the Longhorns are in after a thorough beating last weekend, these Aggies could be in for a long evening on Thursday.
Bookmaker (visit our Bookmaker Review) has Texas favored by a nice round 20 points, and most shops are carrying 139 for the total after it first went out 137.
Ags Coming Off Huge Rivalry Upset
Jason Hooten brings New Mexico State to Austin off a huge upset last Saturday in Albuquerque against rival New Mexico. The Aggies were getting 20 points and trailed the Lobos by 14 in the first half before mounting their comeback and winning 89-83 in overtime.
New Mexico State entered that contest on a 5-game losing streak, and the victory was by far the biggest under Hooten, who was hired before the 2023-24 campaign to rebuild a program that collapsed the previous season due to an off-court scandal.
While the Aggies were stopping a skid last Saturday, Texas was seeing a 7-game win streak come to an end in a 76-65 loss to Connecticut. The final wasn’t really as close as the 11-point margin might suggest as the Longhorns dug themselves into a huge first-half hole and had no answer for the Huskies’ Alex Karaban (21 pts, 11 reb).
Texas closed as a very small home favorite, suffering its fifth spread defeat in nine games. Freshman Tre Johnson scored 24 to lead the Longhorns, but the defense was lacking for Texas – to put it mildly – and UConn controlled the paint on both ends of the floor.
First Meeting Since 2007
Texas holds a 3-1 advantage over New Mexico State with Thursday’s clash the first between the Longhorns and Aggies since November 2007. That meeting came in the inaugural Legends Classic tournament where the Longhorns posted a 100-87 win and cover, and Texas went on to win the event.
They actually met twice in 2007, the first coming in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament. The Longhorns were seeded fourth with the Aggies No. 13 in the East, and Texas covered as chalk once again in a 79-67 final.
Expect Texas to take out its frustrations from such a poor effort the last time out, and we’ll lay the points for our college basketball pick.
NCAAB Pick: Texas -20 (-110) at Bookmaker
*The line and/or odds on picks in this article might have moved since the content was commissioned. For updated line movements, visit BMR’s free betting odds product.
