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Maryland vs. Rutgers Prediction and Odds (Scarlett Knights Bounce Back at Home)

By Reed Wallach

Jan 15, 2022; College Park, Maryland, USA; Rutgers Scarlet Knights forward Ron Harper Jr. (24)
Jan 15, 2022; College Park, Maryland, USA; Rutgers Scarlet Knights forward Ron Harper Jr. (24) / Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports
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Rutgers' up-and-down season continued last week.

After knocking off a ranked foe in Iowa at home on Wednesday, the Scarlett Knights lost on the road Saturday to Minnesota, who were down two starters in a deflating performance.

They now return home for a matchup against Maryland, who beat up a banged up Illinois team on Friday night by 16. Rutgers is a stellar home team, 10-1 this season, so can they notch another one against the Terps on Tuesday?

Here are the odds from WynnBET Sportsbook.

Maryland vs. Rutgers Odds, Spread and Total

Spread:

  • Maryland +3.5 (-110)
  • Rutgers -3.5 (-110)

Moneyline:

  • Maryland +130
  • Rutgers -165

Total: 133

Maryland vs. Rutgers Prediction and Pick

I'm not going to put too much stock into Maryland winning at home against Illinois considering the team was without Kofi Cockburn on Friday.

Instead I'm going to look back to January 15th when Rutgers outscored the Terps on their home court 43-21 in the second half to win by 11. While prior results aren't everything, Maryland's offense is not constructed to take advantage of the Scarlett Knight's compact defense.

Steve Pickell's group allows a ton of three pointers, a high 40% three-point rate since the start of conference play, but Maryland is a shooting 31% on the year from beyond the arc.

On the other side, Rutgers may be due for some regression overall from three -- I can't envision they shoot 41% from deep like they are in Big Ten play all year -- but they do have marksmen like Geo Baker, who is off a 7-for-14 day from the perimeter on Saturday.

Between Baker and Ron Harper Jr., I trust Rutgers to find enough offense against a Maryland defense that is outside the top 300 in turnover rate this season. I'm comfortable laying the short number with the Scarlett Knights, but I opted to parlay them with Oregon on the moneyline to make a + money parlay.

LEAN: Rutgers -3.5, use ML in parlay

All of Reed's college basketball plays can be tracked here, his best bets column for college basketball is 24-29-3 for -6.02 units.

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