College Basketball Best Bets: Three Favorite Picks for Thursday, January 26

Our college basketball best bets are back, and it's an absolutely loaded slate of college basketball games on Thursday, January 26. 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 great day 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 Michigan State Spartans, Iowa Hawkeyes, Michigan Wolverines, Purdue Boilermakers, Arizona Wildcats and Washington State Cougars.

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 $200 in free bonus bets if your team wins. 

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College Basketball Best Bets for Thursday, January 26

Michigan State Spartans vs. Iowa Hawkeyes - 7:00PM ET

Michigan State hosts Iowa in what is a crucial game for both sides for resume purposes and also to remain in the hunt to finish atop the Big Ten. Both teams may be without key pieces, as Iowa is still missing Patrick McCaffery due to a leave of absence for mental health problems, and Michigan State's Malik Hall has not yet returned from injury.

This line feels a bit low for the Spartans at home though. Iowa is just 1-3 in Big Ten road games, losing by 16 points at Nebraska and 16 points at Ohio State. MSU is far ahead of both teams, and is in a bounce back spot after a very poor performance on the road at Indiana over the weekend. Take Izzo's Spartans here.

BET: Michigan State -2.5 (-110) at DraftKings Sportsbook

🏀 Michigan State vs. Iowa Predictions
📈 Betting preview: Michigan State vs. Iowa

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Purdue Boilermakers vs. Michigan Wolverines - 9:00PM ET

The best team in the country travels to Ann Arbor to face a coach in Juwan Howard that has had Matt Painter's number in his time at Michigan. Howard is 4-1 outright and 5-0 ATS vs. Purdue. But - none of that matters in this game, as this is Purdue's best team in that span and by far Michigan's worst.

Jett Howard suffered a serious ankle injury last game against Minnesota. His status remains up in the air, but he has not been practicing. Howard is such an integral part of the Michigan offense, without him the Wolverines will essentially be playing one on five with Hunter Dickinson - and he is a negative mismatch against NPOY-front runner Zach Edey. Purdue is 5-0 in true road games this year. Take the Boilermakers.

BET: Purdue -5 (-110) at DraftKings Sportsbook

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

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Arizona Wildcats vs. Washington State Cougars - 11:00PM ET

When Arizona plays their best game, there isn't a better team in the country. When they play their worst, they are vulnerable to lose any night, as they showed when this very Washington State team defeated them by 13 points on their home court a few weeks ago. Revenge should be on the mind for the Wildcats, who have woken up in a big way since.

Arizona just beat USC and UCLA back to back to re-claim their spot in the PAC 12 race. Washington State is a solid team, but they struggled against good opponents (they are just 2-10 vs. top 100 opponents this season, and one was the win when Arizona was sleepwalking). Arizona will feast inside, and we like them to pull away big.

BET: Arizona -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. 

🔥 Michigan State -2.5
🔥 Purdue -5
🔥 Arizona -5

*All odds and lines correct at time of publishing