USC freshman guard Bronny James, son of LeBron James, made his collegiate basketball debut Sunday night as the Trojans were upset by Long Beach State. James finished with 4 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals and 1 block off the bench while playing on a minutes restriction (16 minutes) after going into cardiac arrest at a USC practice on July 24. The Trojans are next in action this Sunday at Auburn. Here are two intriguing early-week matchups and picks.

Top NCAAB Betting Picks of the Week (December 11th, 2023)

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— CBS Sports College Basketball (@CBSSportsCBB) December 11, 2023

Hofstra Pride vs. Duke Blue Devils

• When: Tuesday, December 12th, 2023, 7:00 PM ET
• Where: Cameron Indoor Stadium, Durham, NC
• TV: ESPN2
• Radio: WRHU 88.7 FM (Hofstra) // 99.3 FM (Duke)
• Live Stream: CBS Sports
• NCAAB Betting Odds: TBA

Don’t rule out Hofstra pulling the upset as the Pride are one of the top teams in the CAA and are 6-3 overall coached by former star player Speedy Claxton. He is one of 50 head coaches at the NCAA Division I level that is the head coach at his alma mater.

Hofstra might have been looking ahead to this one, as it was upset 71-68 at Saint Louis on Saturday to see a five-game winning streak end. Tyler Thomas had a game-high 29 points, but Saint Louis was able to hold off the Pride down the stretch. Darlinstone Dubar had his third straight double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds for the Pride. Dubar became the first Hofstra player to record double-doubles in three consecutive games since Isaac Kante did it in four straight games from December 19, 2020–January 3, 2021. The 29-point outing was the seventh time this season and 19th time in his Pride career that Thomas has scored 20 or more points.

Since the start of the 2018-19 season, Hofstra is the second-best free throw shooting team in the nation during this 168-game (118-50 record) span for the Pride. Over the past 10 seasons, Hofstra is 105-19 (.847 winning percentage) in games in which they hold their opponents under 70 points. Under Claxton, Hofstra is 29-4 (.879 winning percentage) in such ball games. Hofstra is 51-1 over the past 11 seasons when allowing fewer than 60 points in a game. The Pride has won 47 consecutive games in that scenario.

Hofstra’s 85-81 win over #18 Charleston on January 28 of last season was the program’s third-ever win over an Associated Press nationally-ranked opponent. It also marked the second consecutive year the Pride has captured a win over an AP-ranked team. It is the highest-ranked win in school history (Associated Press or USA Today Coaches Poll).

Duke (6-3) has disappointed in the early going but righted the ship Saturday with an 80-56 rout of Charlotte. Duke’s defense held Charlotte to 56 points, 12.3 points below its season scoring average of 68.3. The Blue Devils have now held each of their nine opponents below their respective scoring average. Duke out-rebounded the 49ers, 36-25, for the third game this season the Blue Devils have bettered their opponent on the glass by 10 or more. Duke led Charlotte for the entire game, representing the third wire-to-wire triumph this season (Dartmouth, LaSalle).

Jared McCain scored a career-high 21 points on 7-of-13 shooting. The freshman is the fifth Blue Devil overall to score 20+ points this season, but the first freshman to do so – joining Kyle Filipowski, Jeremy Roach, Mark Mitchell and Tyrese Proctor. Filipowski grabbed 13 rebounds, his third double-digit boards effort in the last four games and the 19th of his career. The Blue Devils are 15-4 when Filipowski collects 10 rebounds or more. The sophomore has finished with 14, 10, nine and 13 rebounds, an average of 11.5 caroms across those four games.

It’s the first-ever meeting between the schools.

NCAAB Betting Pick: Hofstra Pride

Utah State Aggies vs. Santa Clara Broncos

• When: Wednesday, December 13th, 2023, 10:00 PM ET
• Where: Leavey Center, Santa Clara, CA
• TV: ESPN+
• Radio: KZNS 97.5 FM (Utah State) // Sidearm Sports (Santa Clara)
• Live Stream: FOX Sports
• NCAAB Betting Odds: TBA

Two excellent mid-major programs with Utah State of the Mountain West off to a 9-1 start and Santa Clara of the WCC at 7-3. USU won its eighth in a row Saturday in a rout of Northwest Nazarene. Junior wing Great Osobor put in a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds to lead USU. Four other Aggies scored in double digits as redshirt freshman guard Mason Falslev scored 14 points, redshirt sophomore center Isaac Johnson put up 13, senior guard Ian Martinez tallied 11 and junior guard Josh Uduje added 10. Graduate senior guard Darius Brown II logged 11 assists and a career-best six steals.

Utah State ranks in the top 50 in the nation in several categories, including field goal percentage (.534, 4th), assists per game (18.89, 8th), assist-to-turnover ratio (1.60, 23rd), scoring margin (+17.11, 24th), defensive 3-point field goal percentage (.276, 28th), blocks per game (5.33, 28th), rebounding margin (+9.00, 28th) and points per game (83.89, 32nd).

Brown II leads the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio (7.67), while he is second in assists per game (7.67). Osobor ranks 26th in the nation in field goal percentage (.641), 36th in points per game (19.78), 43rd in rebounds per game (9.00) and 47th in defensive rebounds per game (6.44). Utah State is 8-0 this season when scoring at least 70 points. Utah State has led at the half in every game this season and has held a double-digit lead in eight games.

Utah State is one of just three teams in the nation returning zero points to its 2023-24 roster, joining New Mexico State and Northwestern. The Aggies also have the second-fewest returning rebounds (0.004 percent) and are tied for the second-fewest returning assists (0.003 percent), both behind NMSU. USU’s 9-1 start under head coach Danny Sprinkle is tied for the best start to a season under a first-year Aggie head coach, behind the 1961-62 squad’s 9-1 start under Ladell Andersen.

Santa Clara was beaten by a good New Mexico team on Saturday, 93-76, and has dropped three of four. Santa Clara is currently the second-best scoring team in the WCC at 79.2 ppg, trailing only Gonzaga (87.2). Carlos Marshall, Jr. (15.6) and Adama-Alpha Bal (14.8) are the top individual scorers on the squad and rank fourth and eighth, respectively, in the WCC. The Broncos have also fared well on the boards where they rank third in the conference in both rebounds per game (41.3) and rebound margin (+9.0). Santa Clara is one of just 10 teams in NCAA D1 that features multiple players on the roster listed as at least 7-foot tall in Francisco Caffaro, Christoph Tilly and Bukky Oboye. The others are Arizona, Oregon State, Duke, Saint Joseph’s, Saint Mary’s, Stony Brook, Utah, UTRGV and Youngstown State.

Utah State is 7-2 all-time vs. Santa Clara and won last year 96-74 at home. Taylor Funk had 22 points and 11 rebounds but is no longer with the Aggies. Steven Ashworth scored 18 points with five rebounds. Daniel Akin recorded 13 points. Brandin Podziemski added 12 points and two steals for Santa Clara. He’s now playing well as a rookie with Golden State.

NCAAB Betting Pick: Santa Clara Broncos

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READ MORE: Top NCAAB Betting Picks of the Week – December 18th, 2023