Is Illinois back as a national title contender? Star Terrence Shannon Jr. had been suspended indefinitely by the team after he was arrested on a felony rape charge, but a judge’s ruling allowed him to return Sunday, and Shannon had 16 points to lead the No. 14 Illini to an easy win over Rutgers. Here are two intriguing early-week matchups around college hoops.

Top NCAAB Betting Picks of the Week (January 22nd, 2024)

Repost if you see your team on the Week 12 AP Poll pic.twitter.com/xp1DMmmUzc

— CBS Sports College Basketball (@CBSSportsCBB) January 22, 2024

Michigan Wolverines vs. Purdue Boilermakers

• When: Tuesday, January 23rd, 2024, 9:00 PM ET
• Where: Mackey Complex, West Lafayette, IN
• TV: Peacock
• Radio: 790 NewsRadio WSGW (Michigan) // WAZY 96.5 FM (Purdue)
• Live Stream: Peacock
• NCAAB Betting Odds: TBA

No national TV for this Big Ten matchup, but a Peacock streaming exclusive. Michigan (7-11) is surprisingly in the Big Ten basement at 2-5 in league play and is without starting guard Dug McDaniel in road games only – due to academics, he is suspended for road games. McDaniel, a 5-foot-11 sophomore from Washington, D.C., has been Michigan’s best player so far this season in averaging 17.4 points and 5.1 assists. He had two 33-point performances in non-conference play against Florida and Oregon.

Michigan is well-rested, having last played Thursday and losing 88-73 at home to No. 14 Illinois. Michigan trailed 48-47 after a 7-0 run brought the Wolverines back into the game, but Illinois responded with a 17-2 run and remained in control until the final buzzer. McDaniel dropped 14 points with six assists and has scored in double-figures in 16 of the 17 games he has played. Tarris Reed led the Wolverines with 20 points while shooting 8-for-10 from the field and going 4-for-4 from the free-throw line. Reed has not missed a free throw in four straight games. Tray Jackson has missed the last three games due to a nose injury suffered in U-M’s game at Penn State (Jan. 7).

Terrance Williams II, who is averaging a career-best 12.6 points per game, has 14 double-figure games, surpassing his first three seasons combined (10). Over his last six games, he has two 20-plus point games, including a career-best 24 at Penn State (Jan. 7) and 20 against McNeese (Dec. 29).

Purdue (17-2, 6-2 Big Ten) is a half game out of Wisconsin’s Big Ten lead. The Boilers won easily at Iowa on Saturday, 84-70, for a third straight win. National Player of the Year favorite Zach Edey became the first Purdue player since Glenn Robinson (4 straight from Dec. 21, 1993 to Jan. 5, 1994) to record three straight 30-10 games, with a 30-point, 18-rebound, 4-block, 2-assist performance. The performance marked his 12th career 30-10 game, tied for the second most by a player in the last 15 years.

Edey is the first Purdue player with three straight 30–10 games against Big Ten teams since Terry Dischinger (5 straight games from Feb. 3, to Feb. 24, 1962). Edey is the only major-college player in the last 25 years to have at least 90 points, 50 rebounds and 30 made free throws over a 3-game span. In the last three games, Edey has 93 points, 52 rebounds and 31 made free throws (31.0 PPG, 17.3 RPG, 2.7 BPG, 1.7 APG).

Edey now needs just 25 points and 8 blocked shots to become the third player in NCAA history with 2,000 points, 1,000 rebounds and 200 blocked shots, while shooting at least 60.0 percent from the field (David Robinson, Patrick Ewing).

The Boilermakers are 17-2 (or better) in consecutive seasons for the first time in school history. Purdue started last season with an 18-1 mark. Purdue is now 17-2 (or better) for the fifth time in school history (1988, 1994, 2018, 2023, 2024). The victory was Purdue’s, nation-leading 7th quad-1 victory. Eleven of Purdue’s 17 wins have come from the first two quadrants. The victory was also the ninth against a KenPom top-50 team this year, easily the most in the country.

The Wolverines hold a 75-91 all-time record against Purdue with a 26-55 mark in West Lafayette, with U-M having won seven of the last 10 games.

NCAAB Betting Pick: Purdue Boilermakers

Auburn Tigers vs. Alabama Crimson Tide

• When: Wednesday, January 24th, 2024, 7:30 PM ET
• Where: Coleman Coliseum, Tuscaloosa, AL
• TV: ESPN
• Radio: 94.3 FM WGZZ (Auburn) // Tide 100.9 FM (Alabama)
• Live Stream: ESPN+
• NCAAB Betting Odds: TBA

ESPN has this hardwood version of the Iron Bowl from the SEC. Auburn (16-2, 5-0) is the only team in the SEC without a league loss. The Tigers have barely been pushed since they lost to Appalachian State on Dec. 3, then won 11 in a row by double digits. All 16 of their wins this season have been by at least 11 points.

They come off an 82-59 win over No. 22 Ole Miss on Saturday, Auburn’s 11th straight win. Auburn’s bench outscored Ole Miss 40-18, including 12 points from Dylan Cardwell on 5-of-6 shooting in the first meeting between the programs when both were ranked in the top 25. Johni Broome and Jaylin Williams each scored 13 points to lead Auburn, which made 58.2 percent of its shots including 8-of-18 3-pointers (44.4 percent) and played 11 players for at least 10 minutes.

“We’re deep at every position and we have each other’s back,” said Lior Berman, who scored four points and grabbed three rebounds. “If one guy is off, we’ve got another guy coming in and we’re going to support each other through that. Having that at each position has allowed us to be effective every night.”

Exactly 96 schools have recorded at least one Quadrant 1 win so far this season. Auburn isn’t one of them, which is among the reasons Bruce Pearl’s team is arguably the sport’s most unknown outfit. The victories in this 11-game winning streak have come by an average of 21.8 points. Auburn has beaten five top-100 NET teams in the stretch — specifically No. 39 Texas A&M, No. 70 Ole Miss, No. 90 USC, No. 93 LSU and No. 100 Indiana.

“[My players] were asking me, ‘Coach, are you impressed yet,” Pearl said after his Tigers beat Ole Miss. “I really haven’t been. Part of it is we just haven’t played that many ranked teams, but Ole Miss comes in ranked, and they’re a good team that’s really well-coached. To play that well and control the game like we did was impressive.”

Alabama (12-6, 4-1) suffered its first SEC loss of the season Saturday at No. 6 Tennessee, 91-71, to see a six-game winning streak snapped. The Volunteers led from start-to-finish, led by Dalton Knecht’s 25 points. The Crimson Tide committed a season-high 22 turnovers, which led to 23 points for the Volunteers. Mark Sears led the way for Alabama, scoring 22 points, recording his fourth 20-point game during SEC play. Sears was the only Alabama player to score double-figures with his ninth 20-point game of the season.

Alabama went into the game averaging 12 turnovers per game, and the Crimson Tide committed 22 turnovers against UT. The Vols outscored the Crimson Tide 23-4 in points off turnovers, and Alabama’s four three-pointers matched its season-low in three-pointers made in a game (4 at Creighton).

“That was as dominant of a performance that someone has put on us in a long time around here,” Coach Nate Oats said. “They are good, they’re tough, they’re physical, and we weren’t ready for it. I didn’t do a good enough job prepping them for their aggressiveness. They forced 22 turnovers and scored 23 points off our turnovers, and they scored 17 second chance points. When you give up 40 points off turnovers and second chance points, you’re not going to win very many games.”

Alabama was 2-0 vs. Auburn last season, but the Tide were ranked in the Top 3 of the polls in both games. One of the games went to OT.

NCAAB Betting Pick: Alabama Crimson Tide

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READ MORE: Top NCAAB Betting Picks of the Week – January 29th, 2024