Vaughn Dalzell breaks down his best bets for the Sunday College Basketball slate, including Rutgers hosting Maryland and FAU at Memphis.
Maryland at Rutgers (-2): O/U 129.5
After winning four straight, Rutgers dropped its past two on the road compared to Maryland who is 1-5 in the past six games overall.
Rutgers is playing some of its best basketball of the season this past month, while Maryland has been quite opposite. Rutgers ranks 7th in defensive efficiency since the start of February compared to Maryland who is 191st on offense during that span.
Both these squads rank top six in defensive efficiency on the season and over the last six meetings, Maryland scored 28 or fewer points in the first half versus Rutgers four times, including 24 and 17 in the past two.
Maryland ranks 299th overall in tempo and a slower ranked pace (324th) in road games (12th in road Big Ten play). The Terps have struggled from deep, ranking second-worst in Big Ten road games with 30.2% (second-worst rated offense). Rutgers has the No. 1 rated defense in Big Ten home play and is top four across the board in most categories.
I am doubling down on Rutgers ML at -135 odds and Maryland’s First Half Team Total Under 29.5 at -104 odds -- both on FanDuel. Good to -150 and 28.5.
Pick: Rutgers ML (Risk 1.5u), Maryland 1H Team Total Under 29.5 (1u)
Florida Atlantic (-1.5) at Memphis: O/U 158.5
This is FAU’s first trip to Memphis as a member of the AAC. These two met last year in the NCAA Tournament and FAU won the first round matchup, 66-56 as a No. 9 seed. FAU went on for its mircale run, while Memphis had an early exit with a lot of potential.
In FAU’s last three road games, the Owls own the 255th-rated defensive efficiency and rank 287th in defensive rebounding percentage. Memphis is 11-2 at home this season and offensive rebound at home for the second-best rate in the conference action with the second-best two-point defense (45%).
Memphis is a tall and athletic team once again. While FAU brought back 82.7% of its minutes (most in the country) and Memphis returned 9.9% (343rd), Penny Hardaway will have the Tigers ready for this matchup.
FAU beat SMU at home by 10 points after losing to South Florida and losing the AAC lead. While this game means more for FAU in conference standings, Memphis’ season could use another resume-building win.
With two games left versus FAU, I like the chances Memphis can win at home, but FAU can play from behind, so I opted for Memphis First Half +0.5 at -112 odds on FanDuel.
The crowd will be rocking for Memphis and the Tigers led by 5 and 17 points in the last two first halves at home. FAU trailed 46-31 at the half in its last road game.
Pick: Memphis 1H +0.5 (1u)
Season Record: 48-36 (57.1%) +6.76 units
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