Feast Week is in the rear-view mirror. We just started conference play and had a few cross-conference competitions. This is the start of the college basketball dead zone that we get from now until after the New Year. We still get a handful of games every day and the Super Saturday slates, but there aren’t quite as many games as normal. Today’s schedule required some deep-sea diving, but we have a trio of college basketball picks that you’ll want to lock up.
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College Basketball Preview, Picks, and Best Bets for December 8
Matt Dewoskin ATS College Basketball Picks Record (Est 11/3/2025)
All Selections: 61-42-2
Perfect 3-0 Cards: 6-27
Lafayette at Penn
Start Time: 6:00 PM EST
Lafayette has scored more than 72.5 points in five out of 10 games played this year. They’ve gone over in only one out of four road games, but two of their away games were at West Virginia and Texas.
Penn enters this game with a bottom-60 defense in the country. The Quakers have allowed opponents to average 78.6 points per game this year. They allowed DIII Rowan to score 72 points in their season opener.
Lafayette can shoot from deep a little this year. The Leopards have shot 36.6% from deep this season. That’s good for 66th in the nation. The Quakers allow opponents to square up from deep 26.5 times per game this year. That’s 292nd in the nation. They also allow opponents to make 33.0% of their three-point shots. That’s 181st in the nation.
Lafayette isn’t amazing at the offensive end. They’re not even good, but the Quakers give up points to just about everyone. Let’s ride with the over on the Leopards’ team total for this matchup.
Best Bet: Lafayette Team Total Over 72.5
Grambling at Southern Miss
Start Time: 8:00 PM EST
Grambling comes into this game averaging 70.6 points per game. The Tigers have gone higher than 66.5 points in five out of eight games played this year. They also played Southern Miss on November 13th and scored 75 in a win.
Southern Miss has allowed opponents to score 66.5 points in six out of nine games played. The Golden Eagles allow opponents to average 73.9 points per game.
Southern Miss has a bottom-100 defense in the nation. They allow opponents to shoot 53.6% on two-point shots this year. That’s 228th in the nation. The Golden Eagles are even worse at defending the three-point line, and they allow opponents to get to the line a ton. There are a lot of ways for Grambling to hit 67 points in this matchup.
Grambling is in the top 200 in the nation in two-point shot percentage, and they’re not terrible at the free-throw line. The Tigers are legitimately bad from range, but they did shoot 45% from deep against Southern Miss in the first match-up. The Golden Eagles are super leaky on the defensive end, and Grambling should take advantage. Lock up the Tigers to go higher than 66.5 points in this matchup.
Best Bet: Grambling Team Total Over 66.5
Southern at Texas
Start Time: 8:00 PM EST
We’ve got a number that makes zero sense here. Southern has played three games against Power-Five schools this year. They got wrecked by Marquette, Arkansas, and Washington. However, they scored at least 77 points in all three matchups.
Southern has played eight games and is averaging 92.3 points per game. They’ve scored 67.5 points or more in four out of five games against DI opponents so far this year.
Texas has allowed opponents to average 73.5 points against in nine games played this year. The Longhorns just allowed Chaminade to score 78 points in Maui. Texas has UConn on deck, so there is a look ahead.
Texas is not a great defensive team. According to the metrics, Arkansas, Marquette and Washington all rate above the Longhorns defensively. Southern shoots 37.2% from deep range this year. That’s 52nd in the nation this season. Texas allows opponents to shoot 35.9% from distance. That’s 273rd in the nation. Southern can shoot, and they can score. Texas will struggle to draw fans to a matchup like this, they struggle to defend the perimeter, and they have a look-ahead to UConn. Let’s roll with the Jaguars to score more than 67.5 points in this game.
Best Bet: Southern Team Total Over 67.5
The College Basketball Experience
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