CBB Picks: Take the Wake Forest-Duke over on Tuesday night slate

The ACC has the most clustered and exciting regular-season title race of the power conferences in college basketball.

Duke is still the favorite to win the ACC, but there are five other teams with 10 or 11 wins lining up to take the top spot if the Blue Devils slip up.

Wake Forest sits in that cluster of five teams and it needs to beat Duke in Durham on Tuesday to have a chance of finishing on top of the standings.

The Demon Deacons have gone through one of the most impressive transformations in the last two years under Steve Forbes and their offense could challenge Duke for 40 minutes.

Wake needs to play a perfect to upset Duke, but even if that does not happen, the game could give us a ton of points.

Tuesday CBB Picks

Overall Record: 192-217-2

Kent State at Toledo (-8.5) (6 p.m. ET, CBSSN)

Toledo has been the class of the MAC this season.

The Rockets are 12-2 in conference play, and more importantly to us, they are 9-1 against the spread in their last 10 games.

Toledo is one game removed from a 15-point win over Ohio, who is also 12-2 in the MAC. That gives you an idea of how Toledo could handle its matchup with Kent State, who is 10-4 in league action.

Toledo's superior offensive numbers will make the difference in this MAC clash. Toledo averages 11 more points per game and shoots five percent better from the field than Kent State.

Michigan State (-2.5) at Penn State (6:30 p.m. ET, BTN)

Michigan State got back on track on Saturday with a home win over Indiana.

The Spartans are a short favorite on Tuesday because Penn State is a better home team than a road side.

However, Penn State has not been unbeatable at home this season. It lost to Purdue and fell to Michigan. It needed overtime to beat Iowa and the Nittany Lions have a single win in the last seven games.

Michigan State is the more consistent team and it should be able to handle an opponent with an inconsistent offense.

Florida (+100) at Texas A&M (7 p.m. ET, SEC Network)

Florida had its four-game winning streak snapped by Kentucky on Saturday.

There is nothing wrong with the Gators losing to the Wildcats and they should bounce back on Tuesday against a Texas A&M squad in the middle of a brutal stretch.

Texas A&M is on an eight-game losing streak and its offense has not been great during that stretch. The Aggies have been around the 65-point mark in most of those games.

Florida ranks 43rd in two-point offense and 65th in three-point defense. Those could be the factors that help determine the final result.

Wake Forest at Duke (Over 150) (7 p.m. ET, ESPN)

Wake Forest ranks 56th in adjusted tempo and third in two-point offense on KenPom.

The Demon Deacons play at the pace that could help them run with Duke for most of Tuesday's ACC showdown.

Both teams average over 78 points per game and shoot better than 48 percent from the field.

The offensive numbers are there for the top-of-the-ACC clash to be easily get into the high 70s.

Indiana State at Missouri State (-11.5) (8 p.m. ET, ESPN+)

Missouri State has some of the best offensive numbers on the mid-major level.

The Bears average 77.3 points per game and shoot 48.4 percent from the field. They rank in the Top 30 in seven different offensive metrics on KenPom.

Missouri State also carries a revenge angle into Tuesday, as it was upset by Indiana State in the first meeting between the two sides.

Indiana State lost by eight or more points to Loyola Chicago, Drake and Bradley, all of whom rank in the KenPom Top 100 out of the Missouri Valley.

Those results are more of an indicator for what could happen against Missouri State instead of the outlier of an upset from January 25.

Colorado (-4) at Oregon State (9 p.m. ET, Pac-12 Network)

Colorado just beat Oregon State by 23 points 10 days ago.

Oregon State is on a nine-game losing streak and it has not covered the spread in each of its last six games.

Colorado is coming off back-to-back 80-point performances and it gives up just over eight fewer points per contest than the Beavers.

Wyoming (-5.5) at New Mexico (9 p.m. ET)

I'm going back to Wyoming again.

The Cowboys are 5-0 ATS in their last five games. They are on a six-game straight-up winning streak.

Wyoming shoots four percent better from the field than New Mexico and its defense gives up nine fewer points per game.

New Mexico has some comparable offensive numbers, but the defensive stats give the Cowboys a significant edge in the Mountain West showdown.


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