South Florida is quietly playing some good basketball in the Big East right now. The Bulls are 6-3 in conference play with two of their three losses coming by a combined 14 points. Overall, South Florida is 13-9 on the season with half of their losses coming by 4 points or less. The Bulls have played solid defense all season as they are holding their opponents to just 60 points per game on 41.7% shooting from the field and 32.2% from three-point land. South Florida also plays at an extremely slow pace as they rank #341 in the country in that category; they’ve held 21 of their 22 opponents to 70 points or less this season. Georgetown comes in with an impressive 17-4 record, but the Hoyas’ play in conference play has been terrible despite their winning record. Georgetown is just 3-7 ATS in conference play with one of those spread wins coming in the underdog role. Their offense is struggling mightily as they’ve scored 60 points or less in their last three games. The Hoyas’ offense doesn’t figure to improve in this game considering Georgetown also plays at an extremely slow pace; the posted total on this game is just 115. Points will be at a premium in this game so we’ll take the big points with the road underdog in this early morning tilt. 9* Play SOUTH FLORIDA (+).

Iowa State continues to fly well under the radar this season. The Cyclones keep on winning, but they are getting very little recognition for what they’ve done on the court. Iowa State comes into this game at 16-6 overall and 6-3 in conference play. They took Kansas to the wire in Lawrence (9-point loss was closest conference home game by any opponent in Kansas) and then they beat the Jayhawks last Saturday. And if we simply compare Oklahoma’s 11-point home loss and 22-point road loss against Kansas, we can clearly see that Iowa State is a better team than the Sooners and that they should not be an underdog in this game tonight. Oklahoma has not played well since opening the season at 10-2. The Sooners are just 3-6 over their last nine games, and it’s telling since all nine of those games have come in conference play. Oklahoma’s play took a major dip once the competition got tougher while Iowa State’s play maintained their level they displayed in non-conference play. The Cyclones are also 7-2 ATS in conference games while the Sooners are just 2-7 ATS while being an underdog in eight of those nine games. Oklahoma has no business laying points in this game so we’ll take the points with the better team. 10* Play IOWA STATE (+).

The Lakers came through for us last night in their 93-89 win at Denver as 4-point road underdogs. Los Angeles was in a terrific scheduling spot for that game as they had a full two days to prepare while they were catching the Nuggets on a back-to-back set. However, the Lakers are now the team in the negative scheduling spot for this game tonight as they are playing on a back-to-back road set while Utah was off last night. Los Angeles will also be playing another game in the thin air and altitude, and considering four of their five starters played more than 33 minutes last night, we can anticipate the Lakers to be a bit fatigued in the second half in this game. Utah comes into this game off back-to-back losses, including a loss in their last home game. The Jazz are also looking to avenge a pair of losses to the Lakers this season, including a 90-87 home loss in overtime three weeks ago. Kobe Bryant played over 42 minutes in that game and he took a whopping 31 shots. It’s unlikely he’ll be able to play that many minutes tonight and he shouldn’t have the legs to shoot that many jumpers either. Utah is really focused on this game after suffering a couple of losses. “It's an important game. It's on our home floor,” said Jazz head coach Tyrone Corbin. “Regardless who's in uniform, we've got to be ready to play.” With the Lakers in the unfriendly Denver to Utah bask-to-back set, we’ll lay the short price with the rested home team in this game tonight. 9* Play JAZZ (-).