Best College Basketball Bets Today: NCAAB Picks for November 5

Monday’s slate of games featured several enthralling matchups, including a UCF upset win over the 13th-ranked Texas A&M Aggies.

While this slate on Tuesday, November 5, won’t be quite as explosive or entertaining, we can still find some entertainment and betting value!

Keep reading below for our Central Arkansas vs. BYU and UC Davis vs. Washington best bets and analysis!

Central Arkansas @ BYU

• Date: Tuesday, November 5

• Time: 9:00 pm EST

• Moneyline: Central Arkansas +5000 | BYU -30000

• Spread: Central Arkansas +28.5 (-110) | BYU -28.5 (-110)

• Total: Over 148.5 (-110) | Under 148.5 (-110)

All odds are available via FanDuel Sportsbook but are subject to change. Place your bets at FanDuel and claim $150 in bonus bets + 3 months of NBA League Pass.

PICK: PICK: BYU -28.5 (-110) via FanDuel

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There are 362 Division I basketball teams and Central Arkansas finished 340th in adjusted efficiency margin and 347th in adjusted defensive efficiency last season, per KenPom.

Now, the Bears, who are not projected to be much better this season, will face one of the Big 12’s best teams, BYU, on Tuesday night. This will not be fun for them.

The Cougars finished fifth in the Big 12 last year behind the 18th-best offensive attack, per KenPom’s adjusted offensive efficiency metric.

However, BYU lost its head coach Mark Pope to the Kentucky Wildcats after they parted ways with legendary coach John Calipari.

The Cougars will now turn to Kevin Young, a former NBA assistant coach for the Phoenix Suns, to hopefully lead the program back to the NCAA Tournament.

In terms of its roster, BYU brought back four of its seven leading scorers from its sixth-seeded NCAA Tournament team in 2023-24, including Richie Saunders (9.6 PPG), Trevin Kneel (10.6 PPG), Dallin Hall (9.0 PPG, 5.1 APG, 3.5 RPG), and Fousseyni Traore (10.9 PPG, 5.2 RPG).

Rutgers power forward Mawot Mag (9.1 PPG) and Utah forward/center Keba Keita (8.3 PPG, 5.4 RPG) transferred into the program while Young also was able to bring in 4-star recruit Kanon Catchings, Real Madrid’s Egor Demin, and Serbian sensation Mihailo Boskovic.

As a 6-foot-9 shooting guard, Denim is projected to be a lottery pick in the upcoming 2025 NBA Draft while Boskovic, a 6-foot-10 power forward, brings professional experience over to the Cougars.

BYU has excellent positional size all over the floor, which is a huge reason why it ranked 19th in total rebounding percentage and seventh in offensive rebounding percentage last season. We can expect a similar story from the Cougars in 2024-25.

In fact, don’t be surprised if this team ranks as a top-ten team on the glass.

The Cougars will also shoot a ton of 3-pointers, as they ranked first in 3-pointers attempted during their 2023-24 campaign. 

Expect that to cause problems against one of the worst defenses in the nation that allowed opponents to knock down 3s at the ninth-highest percentage last year.

UC Davis @ Washington

• Date: Tuesday, November 5

• Time: 10:00 pm EST

• Moneyline: UC Davis +640 | Washington -1000

• Spread: UC Davis +13.5 (-118) | Washington -13.5 (-104)

• Total: Over 144.5 (-110) | Under 144.5 (-110)

All odds are available via FanDuel Sportsbook but are subject to change.

PICK: Washington -13.5 (-104) via FanDuel

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Washington is not getting much love from oddsmakers and experts ahead of its season-opener against UC Davis.

The Huskies are only favored by 13.5 points on their home floor despite bringing in Great Osobor, who averaged 17.7 points, 9 rebounds, and 2.8 assists per game on 57.7% shooting from the floor, as well as several other solid transfers.

Osobor played his first two seasons at Montana State and then transferred to Utah State last season before deciding to take his talents to Washington for the 2024-25 campaign.

Osobor’s three-college career can be closely tied to the movement of his first head coach Danny Sprinkle.

Sprinkle has made three consecutive NCAA Tournament, with two coming at Montana State and one at Utah State. During that span, his teams have an 80-25 record, so it’s no wonder that Osobor has been following Sprinkle to each new destination.

Washington has had a substantial roster turnover, as five of its top six scorers have either transferred or graduated. Luckily, the Huskies have a talented frontcourt with Osobor and returning center Franck Kepnang (8.3 PPG, 5.9 RPG).

Additionally, the Huskies snagged Oakland forward Chris Conway (10.0 PPG), who will miss some time with an injury, as well as Butler guard DJ Davis (13.5 PPG, 3.2 RPG, 2.6 APG), Portland forward Tyler Harris (12.1 PPG, 7.3 RPG), North Dakota guard Tyree Ihenacho, and Rhode Island point guard Luis Kortright (10.0 PPG, 4.0 RPG, 3.7 APG).

Sprinkle and the Washington program finished with the eighth-best transfer class, according to 247 Sports, so their intentions are clear as day: they want to win now.

Historically, Sprinkle’s teams are efficient on the offensive end of the floor, as Utah State ranked 34th in adjusted offensive efficiency and 10th in 2P% last season. 

I expect the Huskies to be absolutely dominant on the glass, which will result in a plethora of second-chance opportunities against a UC Davis team that finished just 230th in total rebounding rate last season.

Additionally, the UC Davis Aggies ranked 325th (out of 362 teams) in fouls per game last year, and since the Huskies will inevitably crash the glass and attack the basket, there should be a huge disparity in free throws in favor of Washington.

Further, Sprinkle’s teams have been excellent at covering the spread on their home floor in the past two seasons, boasting a 15-9 ATS record at home in that span.