Tuesday Feb. 17th College Basketball Betting Picks and Predictions

Michigan is the top-ranked team in the nation for the first time since the 2012-13 season. Whether the Wolverines keep that spot a second week might be decided by Tuesday’s Big Ten showdown at No. 7 Purdue.

Michigan is thriving with 10 straight wins and holds a two-game lead in the tough Big Ten over No. 10 Illinois. The Boilermakers have won four straight, are tied for third with No. 9 Nebraska and are always formidable at home.

Michigan State, which spent lots of time in the top 10 until a recent swoon, faces UCLA in a pivotal matchup. The nation’s lone unbeaten team – Miami (Ohio) – also is in action and is continually having to shed doubters.

NO. 1 MICHIGAN WOLVERINES AT NO. 7 PURDUE BOILERMAKERS

The top spot in the rankings opened up when Arizona lost back-to-back games last week. Michigan (24-1, 14-1 Big Ten) was the easy choice as the new No. 1 thanks to 13 20-point victories. The lone blemish was a 91-88 home loss to Wisconsin on Jan. 10.

The Boilermakers (21-4, 11-3) were thriving until they sustained three straight losses but have recovered with the current winning streak that includes three road victories. Veteran-laden Purdue can’t win this game unless star point guard Braden Smith controls the pace and has a double-double in which he scores 20 or more points.

The Wolverines have great depth with eight players averaging 7.6 points or better and anybody can be their leading scorer in any game. But look for Trey Kaufman-Renn and Fletcher Loyer to help Smith make it a memorable night with a takedown of Michigan in Mackey Arena.

Purdue plus 2.5-point spread, -112 (DraftKings)

UCLA BRUINS AT NO. 15 MICHIGAN STATE SPARTANS

The Spartans (20-5, 10-4) have lost three of their past four games, including being pounded 92-71 by host Wisconsin last Friday. They also trailed by as many as 16 points while falling to Minnesota during the stretch and had to force overtime before escaping to beat host Rutgers prior to the span.

Now tied for fifth place in the Big Ten, Michigan State badly needs a victory against a UCLA squad that was seven of the past 10 games. The point guard battle between the Spartans’ Jeremy Fears Jr. (national-best 9.2 assists per game) and the Bruins’ Donovan Dent (7.0 apg) should be worth the price of admission.

The Bruins (17-8, 9-5) were just thrashed 86-58 by host Michigan and coach Mick Cronin termed the second-half defense – the Wolverines shot 78.3% — as “the worst of my career.” UCLA got the better of visiting Michigan State 63-61 last season when Eric Dailey Jr. drove for the winning basket with 7.5 seconds left.

UCLA plus 8.5-point spread, -108 (DraftKings)

NO. 23 MIAMI (OHIO) REDHAWKS AT UMASS MINUTEMEN

Perhaps the oddest rumblings going around lately is that Miami (Ohio) can’t lose in the Mid-American Conference postseason tournament if it wants to be part of March Madness. We get that the schedule doesn’t match up with Big 12 and Big Ten teams but 25-0 (12-0 MAC) and 10-0 on the road in mid-February is erased if the RedHawks don’t remain perfect?

Miami doesn’t have marquee victories but is beating everybody it plays with a team-oriented approach and it leads the nation in scoring (92.6 points per game) and is fifth in 3-point shooting at 40.1%. UMass could be well-positioned to end the streak as it lost by just 86-84 at Miami on Jan. 27.

The Minutemen (15-11, 6-7) are a solid 10-3 at home and have standouts in Leonard Bettiol (17.6 points, 7.7 rebounds) and Marcus Banks Jr. (16.9 ppg). Still, the RedHawks seem to hold off charges when threatened so expect that mark to increase to 26-0.

Miami (Ohio) minus 3.5-point spread, -105 (DraftKings)