College Basketball Betting Odds, Picks, and Predictions: Jan. 29, 2009

If you need college basketball betting picks for Thursday, Jan. 29, 2009, you have come to the right place. Below are some free college basketball predictions from a few of our professional sports handicappers at Touthouse.com. If you are looking for updated basketball betting information and current college basketball betting odds, be sure to visit Touthouse.com today.

Troy @ North Texas u161.5: Thu Jan. 29 2009 8:00p

North Texas and visiting Troy, the Sun Belt’s top two scoring offenses, are ready to go head to head at the Super Pit tonight. The linesmakers know how the public will perceive this tilt and have hung a pretty hefty number out for bettors to bet into.

The Mean Green and the Trojans are averaging 77.7 and 76.9 points per game respectively and will of course make sure they concentrate on shoring up their defensive schemes against each other's explosive attacks. This I believe will contribute to a combined score that stays below the number.

My own scoring projections have both teams sticking to their season offensive averages, which when combined beats this opening number comfortably.

Final notes & Key Trends: The Trojans have gone under in 10 of their L/14 road games. In HC Jones (Mean Green) last 51 home games as a favorite, an average combined score of 145.1 PPG has gone on the scoreboard. Play UNDER—Courtesy of Alex Smart

Troy +6.0 (-110): Thu Jan. 29 2009 8:00p

Two hot clubs square off tonight when the North Texas Mean Green hosts the Troy Trojans in Sun Belt Conference play, and we will side with the underdog Trojans with these generous points here. After all, Troy has turned their season around lately, winning four straight games to go over the .500 mark for the season at 11-10 straight up.

Even more impressive has been their play on the road, where they have now won three straight after upsetting Arkansas-Little Rock in Little Rock on Saturday 63-58 as eight-point underdogs.

The key to the Troy turnaround has been their shooting, as they have hit 47.6 percent of their shots from the floor while averaging 78.4 points over the last five games. They now rank a respectable 61st in the country in effective field goal percentage at 52.4 percent, and they have hit 51.5 percent of their two-point attempts, ranking 49th.

The Trojans also do an excellent job of holding on to the ball, turning the ball over on just 17.9 percent of their possessions to rank 32nd in that category, and therein may lie the key to this game. Yes, North Texas has won four consecutive games themselves, and they are 12-7 for the season. However, one thing they have not done well is force turnovers.

The Mean Green is only allowing turnovers on 18.1 percent of opponents possessions, so look for Troy to continue the nice offensive flow they have had the last five games again tonight, resulting in a safe cover and quite possibly an outright upset.

CBB Free Pick: Troy +6 (-110)—Courtesy of LT Profits