College Basketball Best Bets Thursday December 2: Top CBB Picks Today

While nonconference runaways — er, litmus tests — remain on many schools’ schedules, early December thankfully brings the return of league play and various interconference clashes.

Today’s best bets examine some of those high-profile tangles while admitting several others could have made the cut.

Here we go.

Iowa at No. 7 Michigan State — 7 p.m. ET

Iowa is unbeaten under first-year coach Ben McCollum and another Drake export, senior guard Bennett Stirtz, who earned MVP of the recent Acrisure Classic in Palm Desert, Calif.

Michigan State hasn’t lost, either, racking up wins against ranked foes Arkansas, Kentucky, and North Carolina along the way.

With point guard Jeremy Fears and his nation-leading 9.7 assists running the show, the Spartans stay perfect with an array of talent that does enough to dent the Hawkeyes’ staunch defense. Michigan State’s Carson Cooper and Jaxon Kohler make the difference inside in this Big Ten opener.

Pick: Michigan State -5.5 (-115 at BetMGM)

No. 15 Florida at No. 4 Duke — 7:30 p.m. ET

Duke has been dominant in this series, winning 13 of 16 and not losing to Florida since the 2000 NCAA tournament.

Blue Devils forward Cameron Boozer still was seven years from existing then, but his presence in this meeting will be far from trivial.

The Preseason ACC Rookie of the Year — who starred as a Florida high schooler — is doing conference Player of the Year things so far, leading Duke with:

• 22.9 points
• 9.8 rebounds
• 3.9 assists
• 1.8 steals
• 1.1 blocks per game

While the reigning national champs are battle-tested behind the frontcourt of Alex Condon and Thomas Haugh, they’ll soon learn the worst-kept secret in college hoops: Boozer is tough to contain.

Pick: Cameron Boozer over 23.5 points (+100 at FanDuel)

No. 16 North Carolina at No. 18 Kentucky

North Carolina and Kentucky share a blue-blooded college basketball pedigree, but both schools also suffered early-season losses to Michigan State.

The Tar Heels and Wildcats separately bemoaned their struggles against the Spartans’ physicality. Now, they get the chance to test their toughness against each other.

Injuries to multiple front-line players could be too much for Kentucky to overcome. Wildcats coach Mark Pope wasn’t optimistic this week about the status of Mo Dioubate (ankle) and Jaland Lowe (right shoulder), while Jayden Quaintance (ACL) remains sidelined.

Seven-footer Malachi Moreno will test UNC’s interior defense, but another freshman — Tar Heels star Caleb Wilson, the team’s leading scorer and rebounder (19.9 ppg, 9.9 rpg) — helps his side prevail.

Pick: North Carolina Moneyline (+210 at FanDuel)