CBI Tournament Championship - Oregon State vs UTEP

NCAA Basketball Sports Betting

Oregon State Beavers (17-17 SU, 14-14-1 ATS) at UTEP Miners (22-13 SU, 19-12-1 ATS)
CBI Tournament Championship Series - Game 2

BetUS NCAA Basketball Sports Betting Odds:  UTEP -9, Total 134.5

Here are some of the NCAA basketball sports betting trends as they relate to this matchup:

• OSU has won its last four games SU
• OSU has played four of its last six games UNDER the total
• OSU has covered one of its last five road games
• OSU has lost 20 of its last 24 road games SU
• OSU has played five of its last seven road games OVER the total
• UTEP has won and covered five of its last seven games
• UTEP has played its last six games OVER the total
• UTEP has won six of its last eight home games SU
• UTEP has played five of its last seven home games UNDER the total
  
  

Stefon Jackson had his string of six straight games with 25 or more points broken in Game 1 of the best-of-three CBI Championship Series in Corvallis, held to 17 points on just 6-of-21 shooting as Oregon State's 1-3-1 zone was problematic. Oregon State, which shot over 60% for the game, was actually out to a 21-point lead and almost blew it, as UTEP cut that lead to three points late in the second half.

The Beavers have been on a magic carpet ride, as they have turned things around from last year's 6-25 performance that featured a winless Pac 10 slate and a mid-season coaching change. Craig Robinson, Barack Obama's brother-in-law who coached at Brown last year, deserves some consideration for national coach of the year as he has his team at the .500 mark and, let's face it, they are one of only a handful of college teams still playing at this point.

Obviously it needs to be pointed out that Oregon State has been aided in this effort by playing all of its tournament games at home. The Beavers have not played a road game since March 7, when they were beaten 68-52 by USC at the Galen Center. OSU has lost its last three road games, all by double digits, but they are not without key wins as the visitor during the Pac 10 season. The Beavers have won at Washington State, Stanford and Cal, and scored a win at Fresno State in the non-conference season.

UTEP got to the tournament finals the hard way, beating the likes of Nevada and Richmond on the road. They were 13-5 SU and 9-7 ATS at the Haskins Center this season. There is little doubt that Jackson will rebound with a better game, and that's going to make a difference, since in this unusual format, the UTEP staff gets to adjust to what it saw from Robinson's deliberate approach on offense and zone looks on defense. It won't hurt that the Miners have retro rockets in the person of Randy Culpepper (20 points in Game 1) off the bench. Also, are we really expecting Oregon State to shoot 60% again?

We recognize the progress made by OSU center Roland Schaftenaar, who had 19 points and 14 chances from the line in Game 1, but there is going to be a bit of an effect of not having the security of playing at home for the first time in this CBI tourney, and among those differences is that they won't get as many calls - the Beavers had a 26-9 edge in free throws in the first game!

We're going to lay it with UTEP, the nine-point favorite in the BetUS CBI tournament college basketball sports betting odds.

JAY'S PLAY:  UTEP -9
(Graded on a scale of 1-4 stars)