Scott Rickenbach – Sports Handicapper

CBB Wednesday 10* Top Play OVER 134.5 in Purdue Boilermakers vs Penn State Nittany Lions @ 6:30 ET - The Boilermakers are the #1 team in the country and at home and do have some lower-scoring grinder type games on occasion. However, there is no need for that here. They already beat the Nittany Lions when these teams met in a game played in Philly earlier this season. So Penn State was not in their true home for that game and yet they still scored a respectable 63 points despite unimpressive shooting. Purdue scored 76 points in that one and now are at home where they have scored at least 73 points in 8 of last 10 victories. In fact, in those 10 home wins the Boilermakers have averaged 76 points per game. So based on the current line on this game of 10 points that would put this game at 76-66 if Purdue just hits their typical home victory average and that totals 142 points. Not only is that already above the 135 we need for a win here, I do not expect this to be an "average" home game for Purdue. The Boilermakers can score a pile of points on the rather unimpressive defense Penn State plays plus the Nittany Lions come into this game with some confidence on the offensive end so they will be will be willing to play with tempo here. Even though that will prove to be a mistake as the Boilersmakers are so superior to the Lions but the point is PSU will get caught up in a bit of an uptempo game. To their credit, Penn State has scored big in games against Indiana, Iowa and Illinois and won all 3 and the latter was a road game. Even lumping that in with other tough Big Ten they have faced (this Purdue team) it means those 4 games (only 2 of which were played at State College) saw the Nittany Lions score an average of 76 points per game! Also, Penn State enters this game off a win versus Michigan in which they scored 83 points. This Nittany Lions team is playing with some confidence right now and will hang around long enough in this game to make sure it gets over the total in my opinion. I am projecting at least a 75-65 type game though I expect to get well into the 140s actually. 10* OVER 134.5 in Purdue

NBA Wednesday 10* Top Play Philadelphia 76ers -8.5 vs Orlando Magic @ 7 ET - Even if Embiid, listed as questionable, does not play here I do like Philly to bounce back after losing to the Magic by double digits Monday. The Sixers blew an early 21 point lead there and were still up double digits at halftime in the eventual 10-point loss. They were sloppy, turnover-prone, and out of sorts as that game went on. This will be a payback game for them and they will get their revenge. This is the 6th time this season that Philly has had one of these situations where you facing the same team in consecutive games. Of the first five, they have NEVER lost both games. Also, in four of the five B2B sets like this, the 76ers have won the 2nd game 4 times and they have all been blowouts too! The average margin of victory for the Sixers in those games was 24 points! Philly had won 7 straight games before the loss to Orlando Monday. They are not happy at all about how that one played out and will make adjustments in the 2nd game of this B2B set just as they have done in other ones, including at Orlando, earlier this season! The result is a blowout home win by a double digit margin! 10* PHILADELPHIA -8.5 

NHL Wednesday 10* Top Play OVER 6.5 in Buffalo Sabres vs Carolina Hurricanes @ 7:35 ET - As mentioned in yesterday's write-up on the Hurricanes OVER - a 5-4 winner - this Carolina team has been so strong in the offensive zone. The Canes, before the 4-1 win over Boston that preceded the win over the Kings last night, had seen 10 of their last 12 games total at least 7 goals! Incredibly, Carolina has averaged scoring 4 goals per game last 21 games! The Sabres also have been solid in the goal-scoring department on home ice with 3.8 goals scored per game in their 25 games as a host this season! Also, 15 of last 22 Buffalo home games have totaled at least 7 goals so excellent line value with this rather favorable posted total given the trending of these teams. The Hurricanes are in a back to back and used #1 goalie Andersen last night so it is likely to be Raanta tonight. Note that Raanta has allowed at least 3 goals in 3 of last 4 games. The Sabres have been struggling in the goaltending department so they are likely to give up at least 3 here too. This is one of those games - Canes offense so hot, Sabres strong on home ice - that has a great shot at both teams getting to at least 3 goals and of course that would allow this game to get to nothing less than a 4-3 final. 10* OVER 6.5 in Buffalo

English Carabao Cup, Semifinals, Wednesday 10* Top Play OVER 2.5 in Manchester United vs Nottingham Forest @ 3 ET - These clubs met last Wednesday at Nottingham and Manchester United prevailed 3-0 in that match. Though Nottingham Forest was held without a goal they actually produced quite a few rushes on the attack and had a fair amount of shots including a handful that were on target. They missed one glorious scoring opportunity plus had another goal disallowed by VAR. The fact is I liked the chances that both clubs had on the attack and I expect more of the same here and it again leads to a total of at least 3 goals. This time Nottingham Forest should contribute to the total with at least 1 goal. I feel Manchester United could inadvertently let up a bit here and this will open things up even more for scoring chances for the big underdog here. Manchester United realizes they have effectively already punched their ticket to the finals against Newcastle United and so this one could be more of a relaxed affair for the hosts here. Manchester United is scoring an average of 2.4 goals per match their last 11 across all competitions. They have also hung a 3-spot on Nottingham Forest each of their two meetings the past two months. Nottingham Forest had their chances in the meeting last week and, prior to that one, had scored at least 1 goal in 10 of last 11 matches across all competitions! In fact, they averaged 1.6 goals per match in those 10 matches. Look for at least a 2-1 type final here. 10* OVER 2.5 in Manchester United