The best college basketball bets today:

Saturday’s college basketball slates are not for the faint of heart. We have almost 150 games scheduled for January 11th and will be hosting many triple-digit Saturdays over the next few weeks. As you know if you read this column regularly, I start the games at 4:00 p.m. ET and later for lead time purposes. If you want to see some of the earlier games, Greg Peterson is for you.

For those trying to navigate the map, I would recommend searching chronologically based on the time you have available. I also talked about the concept of conference specialization so you can narrow your focus to maybe looking at 10 or 20 games in some of these leagues rather than trying to look at everything. Be honest with yourself about the amount of time you have to spend with disabilities.

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The tracking sheet is here. 2023-24 for reference can be found here.

This article appears Monday to Saturday (not next week, see exception above). The lines are from DraftKings as they are generally available to readers. Browse for the best prices.

Kudos to Bart Torvik, Erik Haslam, and Ken Pomeroy as my top three sources of disability information.

Check out the latest college basketball odds here at VSiN for legal US sportsbooks nationwide and our Vegas odds if you share a state with us. Also take a look at the college basketball betting breakdowns for this or any other college basketball games that pique your interest today.

Odds from DraftKings Sportsbook at time of publication.

Queens U. Royals (-1, 145.5) at Austin Peay Governors

5:00 p.m. ET

We begin the Atlantic Sun Conference with a matchup between the Royals and the Governors. Queens pulled off a mammoth win over Lipscomb on Thursday night in a game where they dominated the offense and continued their very hot shooting. I don’t see any reason why it should end tonight, and there’s also a pretty interesting note about the win over the Bisons that’s worth mentioning.

Leo Colimerio, who led the team with 13 PPG and had scored 20.3 PPG compared to his previous eight PPG, had just two points in the upset win over Lipscomb. Some may think the Royals are in for a disappointment with a big win, but their best offensive player will certainly be looking to redeem themselves after this performance.

Queens ranks 145th in 2P% and 112th in 3P%, while Austin Peay ranks 340th in 2P% and 343rd in 3P%. Queens has half the average hitting rate of Austin Peay on mid-range jumpers, opting instead to shoot three-pointers at a 47.1% hit rate. They are hitting at a rate of 34.6% on these shots, which is 6.5% more than what the Governors achieved with their smaller 3P rate of 38.2%.

Queens should also have the edge on offense in this game, especially with the ability to keep up with 7-footer Malcolm Wilson as Austin Peay head coach Corey Gipson looks to add some size to his lineup.

Selection: Queens +1

San Francisco Dons at Santa Clara Broncos (-3, 152)

7pm ET

San Francisco and Santa Clara will play for the second time in two weeks, but with a change of venue. The first game was an instant classic as San Francisco won 97-94 in overtime. The teams had 1.224 and 1.186 points per possession, respectively.

The Dons are losing a bit on defense here lately. They allowed just 1 PPP or more in four of their 14 games prior to this game against Santa Clara. Following the game against Santa Clara, they gave up 1,268 PPP to Pacific and then 1,235 to Washington State before giving up 1,098 to Portland, which was a good win in their last game against a team that ranked in the .310s per Torvik won.

So I think Santa Clara will have a lot of offensive success here. The Broncos have the higher shooting percentage on close twos (44.1% to 34.2%) and are also the better offensive rebounding team. Santa Clara actually got out of the race early in this first meeting, leading by 10 points in the first half before blowing that lead before halftime. They also led by 3 with 15 seconds left and fouled Malik Thomas on a 3-point attempt.

In my mind, Herb Sendek’s crew is getting revenge tonight when they play to what should be a packed crowd in their hometown.

Selection: Santa Clara -3

UC Irvine Anteaters and UC San Diego Tritons (-6, 139)

10 p.m. ET

On a day with nearly 150 basketball games, this is one of the best as UC Irvine and UC San Diego come together. These are the two top-100 teams in the Big West Conference, and this is an important game for seeding in the conference tournament as the first of two head-to-head meetings, the next one being February 8th.

I believe this is the Anteaters’ biggest underdog in a conference game since January 20, 2018 against UC Santa Barbara, so we’re talking a pretty big outlier. The Tritons have been great this season, although it’s worth noting that their schedule is 112 spots behind the Anteaters for Torvik and 125 spots for KenPom.

I like UC Irvine’s size in this matchup with 7-foot Bent Leuchten and 6-foot-10 Kyle Evans. The Anteaters are consistently among the best teams in the country based on 2P percentage and the fact that they keep teams on the sidelines off the scoreboard. This season they rank 14th in 2P% defense, so that trend continues under Russ Turner.

UC San Diego made a lot of hay from deep, making 3s on 48.6% of its shot attempts for a 35.3% conversion rate. UC Irvine’s perimeter defense needs to be on point here, but I think it’s up to the task. This is a game where the Anteaters should have a modest advantage on the glass. I would also expect them to be more responsible with the ball than their season average would suggest, considering many players with a high TO percentage don’t play much at this stage of the game.

The Tritons also allowed their opponents to shoot 37.2% from three distances. While shooting from distance isn’t a big part of the Anteaters’ offense, they’ve been shooting it a little better in the last two games.

Pick: UC Irvine +6