Georgia’s beatdown on TCU marks the end of  the end of the College Football season and NFL Playoffs are getting started soon. It’s that time of year again where we start taking a closer look at College Basketball now that things are heating up a bit with some juicy conference matchups. This Saturday has some early basketball games that start before the Seahawks face the Niners at 1:30 PM Pacific Time. This will give us a chance to possibly win some money before football comes on. 

If it’s still too soon to put some real money on them, no worries! We’re just going to take a look at some solid televised games to help us get back in the swing of things. Get your alarm clocks and your remote controls ready because you won’t want to miss out on some of these early games. Many of these teams have a great chance to make it to the tournament this year, so it’s good to get familiar with them now and as the season progresses. Here are the top 5 College Basketball Matchups to Watch on Saturday!

West Virginia vs Oklahoma

9 AM Pacific Time

Lloyd Noble Center, Norman, Oklahoma

January 14th, 2023

ESPN 2

Can West Virginia (10-6)  snap their 4 game losing streak on the road against Oklahoma (10-5)? The Mountaineers schedule has been a bit tough lately; losing games against teams such as Texas, Kansas, Baylor and Kansas State. West Virginia also hasn’t covered the spread against a Big 12 team in their last 5 games. 

They’ll hope to get things on track when they face a fairly evenly matched Oklahoma team. On the flip-side, Oklahoma has covered the spread in their last 5 games against the Big 12. So something’s gotta give! Another thing to note here is that the OVER has hit for Oklahoma has hit in 7 of their last 10 games. Oklahoma has also beat West Virginia against the spread the last 6 games in a row. So this is definitely an interesting matchup

Kentucky vs 5 Tennessee

9AM Pacific Time

Thompson-Boling Arena, Knoxville, Tennessee

January 14, 2023

ESPN

This classic SEC matchup will certainly be on my television, You can count on that! Tennessee is off to a hot start and they were the first college basketball team I bet on this season, and got a winner of course! Tennessee is sizzling, going 14-2 but their conference schedule has been pretty easy lately. They’ve won against Vandy, blew out South Carolina and Mississippi. Will Kentucky be next?

Kentucky will certainly have a difficult task facing the Vols on the road. Not only are they 3-6 straight up against the Vols in their last 9 games, they’ve struggled on the road this season (going 0-3)  and the SEC conference so far this year (0-3) against the spread. To make matters even worse, the Wildcats lost straight to South Carolina as a -20 point favorive! Kentucky is usually a pretty good team though and an upset against a team like Tennessee would be a great accomplishment and could get them going on the right track. The great thing about college basketball is that anything can happen, right?

18 Wisconsin vs Indiana

10 AM Pacific Time

Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall, Bloomington, Indiana

January 14, 2023

CBS

Another classic conference matchup takes place when 18 Wisconsin takes on Indiana about an hour after the other games start. Wisconsin has utterly dominated the Hoosiers over the past 10 games, winning straight in 9 of their last 10 matchups. Not only that, but the Badgers enjoy embarrassing this opponent on their own court! That’s right! They are 9-2 in their last 11 games played at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. So you’re probably thinking by now that Wisconsin would be a great pick here, no matter what the spread is. But not so fast…

During a 5 game stretch, Wisconsin hasn’t covered the spread at all, despite still winning a few games during that time. The last time they covered was against Iowa back on December 11, last year! So keep that in mind if they turn out to be a heavy favorite. 

Indiana has also had really bad luck ATS lately, losing to the spread in their last 7 games. Despite a victory against North Carolina, they haven’t really beat any notable opponents . They also did keep it pretty close with a talented Iowa team only losing by a couple points. I’d maybe roll the dice on the Hoosiers if they were getting any more than 10 points. 

North Carolina vs Louisville

11 AM Pacific Time

KFC Yum! Center, Louisville, Kentucky

January 14, 2023

ESPN

Early in the game against Virginia, Armando Bacot went down with what looked like a sprained ankle, he’s been listed as doubtful for this game against Louisville. If you watched UNC during the tournament last year, you would know that he was a big part of that and one of their most important players. So can the Tarheels walk into the KFC Yum! Center and come out with a victory, even without Bacot? It certainly seems possible with Louisville having one of the worst starts imaginable. 

Despite being 2-15 on the season, If you’ve been betting on Louisville and the over recently, you’d definitely be making a lot of money. The reason for that is, they’ve been given a ton of points lately by the sportsbooks.The other teams lock up their victory while Louisville still tries to get as many points as possible. It will definitely be interesting to watch but I don’t see Louisville winning this outright. If the spread is something ridiculous like +23, like it was against Kentucky when they played them, I’d lean Louisville in that one.

11 Kansas State vs 17 TCU

11 AM Pacific Time

Ed & Rae Schollmaier Arena, Fort Worth Texas

January 14, 2023

ESPN 2

TCU suffered a heartbreaking loss to Texas but still managed to cover the spread… barely. They were winning almost the entire game until the Longhorns managed to pull away at the end.  In any case, TCU and Kansas State are looking to get a ranked victory to stay in the top 25 and to move their way up in the Big 12 conference. 

Both of these teams seem very evenly matched and I would expect a close game. Kansas State has been a covering machine lately though, going 7-1 in their last 8 games. They’re also on a 9 game winning streak and are making a name for themselves, with a 15-1 regular season record. Can they overcome the Horned Frogs on the road, who’ve won 6 of their last 7 at home?

While TCU is 13-3, their conference record is only 2-2 so far, so they’ll clearly need to do better than that 50 % in that category if they plan on making it to the big tournament. The Horned Frogs solid defense has also allowed an average of 64 points a game. A possible play here would be the under, considering total has gone under 5 out of the last 6 times when TCU is playing Kansas State at Ed & Rae Schollmaier Arena. 

To Wrap it Up

So what do you think? Hopefully some of these trends will help you with your picks on Saturday. As the season progresses a bit and I’ve seen more games played, I’ll be happy to share my picks on the spread. Thanks for reading this post, good luck on your bets and be sure to follow Zensports on Twitter!