Free Pick | NCAA | Friday | Jan. 20

Check out a 2-for-1 offer from Nelly’s in basketball for Friday night. We also expect to post our next NFL update today with winning results three of the past four weeks in pro football.

Free Pick #879 Canisius +5 over Fairfield 6:00 PM CT

At just 5-12 Canisius is not an easy team to support but after a 2-11 start including going 0-4 in Metro Atlantic play, the Golden Griffins have delivered wins in three of the past four games. That includes a prominent win over Siena on Sunday, one of the better teams in the conference. Two of three conference wins have been road wins and the losses for the Canisius were consistently in close games with six of 12 losses on the season by four or fewer points. Canisius played a very difficult non-conference schedule that included a road-heavy path, and this squad has two top 200 wins. Fairfield only has one top 200 result, and it came way back in November with a fortunate win over Towson in tournament action. Knocking off Saint Peter’s on the road Sunday snapped a three-game slide for the Stags but this is one of the worst shooting teams in the nation including a below 28 percent 3-point success rate. The conference path has been more favorable for Fairfield so far despite the similar records for these teams which also explains what appears to be defensive edge for Fairfield. It isn’t clear those numbers will hold up over time however and Canisius can create turnovers on defense. Canisius takes a great deal of 3-point shots and Fairfield’s current rate of allowing only 25 percent on 3-point looks is not sustainable and built on a few outlier performances. Fairfield won all three games last season between these teams but the regular season meetings were very close including an overtime win in this building. In the conference tournament Fairfield won in a blowout as this should be a high-motivation spot for Canisius, who appears to be playing well-above the season numbers in recent weeks as the underdog points offer great appeal Friday night in the Metro Atlantic.

Big E went 2-0 on Thursday including a second straight 20* winner – check out his ACC 20* on Saturday!

Point Train went 3-0 to start the NFL Playoffs last week while on a 12-3 run in football Best Bets. His Playoff GOY is coming up this weekend!