There are a few good games on the college basketball schedule on Friday night. They aren’t all filled with Top 25-ranked teams, but there are some good matchups.

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These are my best bets for the Friday night slate.

Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets at Clemson Tigers Picks

Yellow Jackets vs. Tigers Betting Preview

Best Bet: Over 130 Points

Neither of these teams plays particularly great defense this season. Clemson appeared to be one of the best defensive teams in the nation early in the season, but that’s faulty.

The Tigers do currently rank 11th in the nation in adjusted defensive efficiency, but they also surrendered 83 points to the Yellow Jackets in the first meeting between the two teams earlier this season.

On the other end, Georgia Tech’s defensive effort has been lackluster this season when compared to previous efforts under coach Josh Pastner. The Jackets are just 77th in the nation in adjusted defensive efficiency, which is the worst ranking of the Pastner regime.

In recent seasons, Georgia Tech has hung its hat on its defensive excellence in guarding the three-point line. This season, the Yellow Jackets are allowing opponents to shoot nearly 37% from deep.

That has led to a stark increase in opponents’ effective field-goal percentage of .522, which ranks 254th in the nation.

You can couple all of this with the fact that Georgia Tech is coming off one of its worst shooting performances of the season as the team went 4-of-21 from deep against Virginia.

Clemson is ranked 206th in the nation in defending the three-point line. Look for the Yellow Jackets to “get right” in this game in terms of their shooting from deep.

To put a cherry on top of this prediction, Clemson shoots nearly 75% from the stripe and the Yellow Jackets nearly 72%. Take the over.

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Illinois Fighting Illini at Nebraska Cornhuskers Picks

Fighting Illini vs. Cornhuskers Betting Preview

Best Bet: Fighting Illini -15

Usually, you try to avoid betting on spreads this big, but if we are being honest, Nebraska is terrible, and Illinois is rolling. In Nebraska’s 10 games at home, the Cornhuskers are just 4-6 against the spread.

On the opposite side, Illinois is pretty good on the road at 4-2 against the spread.

Illinois is also currently the best team in the Big Ten against the spread in terms of outperforming the number. The Illini have a margin of victory of 13 points per game (which includes losses) while outperforming the spread by 4.2 points per game.

Combine that with the fact that Nebraska averages a margin of victory of 2.2 points per game (including wins) and underperforming the number by 1.2 points per game. Nebraska is also just 3-6 against the spread at home.

When looking at the metrics, Nebraska’s tendencies also favor more possessions for the Illini, as they rank 25th in the nation in tempo while also ranking 83rd in the nation in adjusted defensive efficiency, 137th in opponents effective field-goal percentage, and 218th in opponents offensive rebounding percentage. Illinois ranks in the top 45 of a ton of defensive matrix key stats.

Illinois is going to get a ton of shots up, those shots will most likely be good looks, and Kofi Cockburn should provide a bunch of second-chance opportunities. Illinois should win this game by 20 points.

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