Iona vs Alabama 11/25/2021 College Basketball Picks, Best Bets and Odds
Alabama Crimson Tide (4-0) vs. Iona Gaels (5-0)
November 25, 2021 5:00 pm EDT
The Line: Iona Gaels +12 ; Over/Under: 146
(Get latest betting odds)
The Alabama Crimson Tide and the Iona Gaels meet Thursday in college basketball action from HP Field House. Alabama is doing well so far at 4-0. The Tide are coming off a blowout win over Oakland. As for Iona, they’re 5-0 this season. The Gaels took out North Alabama in their last game. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.
Alabama had few troubles in their first four games of the year. The Tide beat Louisiana Tech 93-64 in their opener, then ran away with a 104-88 win over South Dakota State. Game three was closer but still a win 73-68 over South Alabama.
In the matchup against Oakland, the Tide jumped out to a 38-26 halftime lead. Alabama scored 48 points from there in an 86-59 win. Jaden Shackelford led the team on 20 points with five rebounds, and Jahvon Quinerly had 19 points as well.
Over on the Iona side, they’ve gotten off to a nice start as well. The Gaels beat Appalachian State 65-53 in their opener, then eked one out versus Harvard 90-87. Wins over Hofstra 82-74 and Liberty 54-50 came in the next pair.
In the game versus North Alabama, the Gaels had a mild 38-35 edge the the break, then turned it on after halftime. Iona would end up with an 81-65 victory. Both Quinn Slazinski and Tyson Jolly scored 18 points apiece, combining for nine rebounds.
Iona is 12-3-1 ATS in their last 16 neutral-site games and 6-1-1 ATS in their last seven after an ATS win. The Gaels are 19-6-1 ATS in their last 26 overall.
Meanwhile, the Tide are 5-1 ATS in their last six as a favorite of 7.0-12.5 and the over is 10-4 in their last 14 Thursday games. The over is 4-1 in the Tide’s last five after a straight-up win of more than 20 points.
PICK: I’m probably going to take a stab on Iona here. The Gaels have had a couple of close escapes and a couple of tepid offensive outings so far, but the results have been perfect. Iona shot 43.3 percent from the floor against North Alabama, posting a 43-34 edge in rebounds and a 16-7 advantage in assists.
As for Alabama, they had a bad first half in the South Alabama game but otherwise haven’t had a lot of issues. Still, if Iona can get off to a good offensive start I can see them hanging around here and covering. Should be a pretty fun matchup to check out.
