Daily Dunk: Best College Basketball Bets Today (Predictions for Providence-Villanova, UNLV-Nevada, and More)

Gamblor giveth, Gamblor taketh away.

After a 3-0 sweep with my Daily Dunk picks on Wednesday, I went 0-3 with my picks in Thursday's edition of the article. Let's reset today and get our weekend started off right. Let's take a look at three of my favorite college basketball bets for tonight's action.

Best College Basketball Bets Today

Odds via Caesars Sportsbook

Villanova -8.5 (-110) vs. Providence
Boise State vs. Grand Canyon UNDER 140 (-110)
Nevada -9 (-110) vs. UNLV

Providence vs. Villanova Prediction

Villanova is primarily a three-point shooting team, which is bad news for Providence tonight. The Friars rank 341st in the country in opponent three-point field goal percentage, allowing teams to shoot 37.7% from beyond the arc.

Additionally, Providence's shooting numbers fall off a cliff when playing on the road. Its effective field goal percentage drops 7.8% on the road compared to when playing at home.

With Villanova on its home court, I'm going to lay the points with the Wildcats.

Pick: Villanova -8.5 (-110)

Boise State vs. Grand Canyon Prediction

Instead of betting on the spread in this game, I'm going to target the total and bet the UNDER in this spot. Both teams are stronger defensively than offensively, ranking 32nd and 86th in defensive efficiency but 167th and 252nd in effective field goal percentage.

Both teams also play a relatively slow pace of play, coming in at 199th and 220th in possessions per game.

These two teams are similar in a lot of ways, which makes deciding which to bet on a tough puzzle to figure out, but with out similar they are, there's a good chance this is going to be a defensive affair. I'll take the UNDER.

Pick: UNDER 140 (-110)

UNLV vs. Nevada Prediction

There's not much to separate these two teams in terms of metrics, so I'm a bit surprised to see UNLV as big of an underdog as they are. The Runnin' Rebels outrank the Wolfpack in effective field goal percentage, and Nevada only slightly outranks them defensively.

UNLV has also been a solid team when playing on the road this season, going 7-3 straight up in its last 10 road games.

I'm going to take the points with UNLV and hope this game comes down to the wire.

Pick: UNLV +9 (-110)

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Odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.

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You can check out all of Iain's bets here!