NCAA Basketball Betting 3-Point Play: Three Interesting Feb. 16 Opening Lines

by Alan Matthews - 2/15/2016

I picked Duke to beat No. 7 Virginia on Saturday, so I'm glad the Blue Devils did. But have you ever seen a more blatant travel than what went uncalled on Duke star Grayson Allen as he was drilling the fluke game-winning bank shot? The referees should let the players decide the games and not over-officiate, but that was so obvious. But you aren't going to get the call as an opponent in Cameron Indoor Stadium. Duke returned to the AP poll on Monday at No. 20.

No. 10 West Virginia at No. 24 Texas (-3)

Big 12 matchup at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN2. Texas (16-9, 7-5) has played its way back onto the NCAA Tournament bubble with back-to-back losses. But the Horns weren't even punished in Monday's new polls as the defeats were in the final seconds at No. 3 Oklahoma and then 85-75 at No. 14 Iowa State on Saturday. Playing in the ridiculously deep Big 12 will help UT's resume. That ISU game concluded a stretch of five consecutive true road games against AP Top 15 opponents, a first in program history. UT won two of them. And one was 56-49 at West Virginia on Jan. 20 when the Mountaineers were No. 6. Javan Felix scored the final nine points for Texas. The Horns turned it over only eight times against that pressure WVU defense and the Mountaineers turned those into a scant seven points. Bob Huggins ripped his team's effort after.

West Virginia (20-5, 9-3) is tied atop the Big 12 with Kansas, which I'm sure is going to win Monday night at home vs. unranked Oklahoma State. WVU bounced back from a loss last Tuesday at Kansas by throttling visiting TCU 73-42 on Saturday. TCU coughed it up 26 teams and was held to a season low in points. WVU junior Devin Williams scored 11 points and grabbed 13 rebounds. He became the 50th player in school history to reach 1,000 career points. WVU starting forward Jonathan Holton returned from a four-game suspension and had 14 points and seven rebounds. Huggins' next win will be No. 786 all-time, which would tie him for ninth on the NCAA career list with Lefty Driesell.

Key trends: The Horns are 7-1 against the spread in their past eight games. They are 4-1 ATS in their past five at home. WVU is 1-6 ATS in the past seven meetings.

I'm leaning: Texas.

Creighton at Butler (-4.5)

This Big East game is at 7 p.m. ET on Fox Sports 1. These are two bubble teams, although Creighton isn't listed on ESPN's Bracketology, even among the first eight teams out. That surprises me. The Bluejays (17-9, 8-5) are trending up as they are on a three-game winning streak. They took care of business at Marquette 65-62 on Saturday. James Milliken hit a go-ahead 3-pointer with 1:05 left and Maurice Watson Jr. had 18 points and 10 assists. The win was the 138th at Creighton for Greg McDermott, tying him with John J. "Red" McManus for third on the school's all-time wins list. Watson Jr. was named Big East and National Player of the Week on Monday. He averaged 25.0 points, 7.5 assists, 6.0 rebounds and 2.0 steals last week. He leads the Big East in assists.

Butler (17-8, 6-7) is listed among the "First Four Out" for the Big Dance. The Bulldogs had a three-game winning streak end in a 74-57 home loss to No. 5 Xavier on Saturday. It was Butler's most lopsided home defeat in two seasons under Coach Chris Holtmann. The Musketeers shot 57 percent from the field and held the Bulldogs to 33.3 percent. Kelan Martin had his seventh double-double in the game, posting a team-high 15 points and 12 rebounds for Butler. Creighton beat visiting Butler 72-64 on Jan. 23. Watson scored 18 of his 20 points in the second half for the Bluejays. Butler shot only 30.4 percent but was without point guard Tyler Lewis. He's back now.

Key trends: Creighton is 6-1 ATS in its past seven road games. Butler is 2-7 ATS in its past nine vs. teams with a winning record. The Bluejays are 4-1 ATS in the past five meetings.

I'm leaning: Butler (despite trends).

Ole Miss at Texas A&M (-9.5)

SEC game at 9 p.m. ET on ESPNU. The Rebels (16-9, 6-6) have slim NCAA Tournament at-large hopes. They don't face a ranked team the rest of the regular season to help boost their resume. That's the weak SEC for you. Ole Miss is off a 76-60 home win over Arkansas on Saturday. Star guard Stefan Moody had 17 points, with 16 coming after halftime as the Rebels erased a two-point deficit at the break. He leads the SEC, and ranks eighth nationally, in scoring at 23.0 ppg this year.

Texas A&M (18-7, 7-5) might be playing its way onto the bubble. The Aggies were No. 15 last week but dropped out of Monday's AP poll thanks to a 76-71 loss at LSU on Saturday, A&M's fourth straight defeat overall and fifth straight in SEC play. It led by seven early in the second half. The Aggies had only seven free-throw attempts, making six, while LSU was 23-for-29 from the stripe. Texas A&M shot 55.8 percent from the field compared to 42.1 for the Tigers. Not often you will lose shooting that well and your opponent that poorly. This is the only scheduled meeting between A&M and Ole Miss. The Rebels won last year 69-59 in Oxford.

Key trends: The Rebels are 6-0-1 ATS in their past seven games. A&M is 0-6 in its past six vs. the SEC.

I'm leaning: Ole Miss.

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