College Basketball Best Bets: Three Favorite Picks for Friday, January 13

Our college basketball best bets have been scorching hot, and on a quiet Friday slate, we are back looking for more winners in college basketball before the weekend on Friday, January 12. We're looking to give you some winning best bets using a combination of key stats and trends, as well as some artificial intelligence from our DimersBOT NCAA basketball predictions. With that said, keep reading so that we can help you narrow down what you should be taking on a solid Friday of NCAA basketball betting. If you want insight into our best bets to win the NCAA National Championship, you can check out our best CBB futures. Today we lock in on games involving the Nebraska Cornhuskers, Purdue Boilermakers, Michigan State Spartans, Illinois Fighting Illini, Villanova Wildcats and Butler Bulldogs.

If you haven't already, you should consider signing up for DraftKings ➡️ here ⬅️ as you can turn a $5 pre-game moneyline bet on any game into a free $200 if your team wins. 

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College Basketball Best Bets for Friday, January 13

Nebraska Cornhuskers vs. Purdue Boilermakers - 7:00PM ET

These two teams played at Nebraska earlier this season and it was a back and forth affair. Fred Hoiberg's Cornhuskers made things very difficult on NPOY frontrunner Zach Edey, often sending double and triple teams and making anyone else beat you. That's a good strategy, as the Boilermakers are not a good shooting team, making just 32% of their threes this year.

15 points is just a huge number here, we fully expect Purdue to win, but given the way the first game played out, we like Nebraska to cover. Expect a sleepy Friday night crowd, and the Cornhuskers to take advantage.

BET: Nebraska +15 (-110) at DraftKings Sportsbook

🏀 Nebraska vs. Purdue Predictions
📈 Betting preview: Nebraska vs. Purdue

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Villanova Wildcats vs. Butler Bulldogs - 7:00PM ET

Both of these teams have struggled immensely this season, and this could be a back-breaking loss for either program. While Butler is normally a particularly tough place to play, it hasn't been lately, as they lost both of their last two home games against Kenpom top 100 teams both by 20+ points (to Providence and UConn).

While VIllanova hasn't played like a normal Wildcats team, they still have the talent advantage everywhere on the floor. Villanova is 6-3 against teams outside of the Kenpom top 75 this season, and their recent string of losses is more a result of playing high quality opponents than it is their poor play. Nova needs a season-altering win and tonight is a good spot for them to get it.

BET: Villanova -1 (-110) at DraftKings Sportsbook

🏀 Villanova vs. Butler Predictions
📈 Betting preview: Villanova vs. Butler

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Michigan State Spartans vs. Illinois Fighting Illini - 9:00PM ET

Illinois has bounced back from the dead nicely over the last week, seven days after starting point guard Skyy Clark left the program, the Illini have notched back to back conference wins against Wisconsin and Nebraska. In comes Michigan State, who is also playing like one of the best teams in the country, winning their last seven games.

Michigan State has been the much more consistent side over the course of the season. We know what we're going to get from the Spartans for better and for worse, but the same can't be said for Illinois, who is prone to a total no-show once every few games. They are due to lay another egg here, and 6.5 points feels like far too many.

BET: Michigan State +6.5 (-110) at DraftKings Sportsbook

Best College Basketball Parlay Today

There are numerous different ways you can wager on College Basketball games in 2023, such as the moneyline, spread, total, player and team props, and, of course, parlays. While we normally suggest taking our picks on their own, we also really love parlays! With that said, check out the fat payout you can get by throwing all of our best bets together tonight. 

🔥 Nebraska +15
🔥 Villanova -1
🔥 Michigan State +6.5

*All odds and lines correct at time of publishing