No. 4 UConn vs. No. 16 Michigan college basketball odds, picks: Powerhouses meet in 2026 title game rematch — SkimNews
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- DraftKings lists UConn as a 7.5-point favorite over No. 16 Michigan in Friday's 8 p.m. ET neutral-site game at TD Garden in Boston, with the Huskies taking roughly 75% of tickets and handle and the total at 142.5, down two from the opener.
- Michigan +8.5 is the recommended alternate spread at -138, with the writer paying 15 cents for an extra point and saying 8.5s would "pop" anyway; the matchup is just the 11th meeting of the previous season's national finalists since 1996, and defending champions are 6-4 in those games.
- Haslametrics projects UConn winning by just one point while the article's model has the Huskies winning 78-71, and the writer states that being "so against Michigan personally" does not affect his betting.
- Mike Boynton Jr. was promoted to Michigan head coach after Dusty May left for the NBA and was the defensive coordinator on last season's No. 1-ranked defense; his debut was an 84-68 win over Oakland that failed to cover the 27.5 spread.
- Dusty May became the first college head coach to take an NBA job since John Beilein in 2019 when Dallas hired him, while Michigan lost three top-12 selections in the 2026 NBA draft: Morez Johnson Jr. (No. 9, Dallas), Yaxel Lendeborg (No. 11, Golden State) and Aday Mara (No. 12, Oklahoma City).
- Elliot Cadeau and Trey McKinney combined for 24 points, eight assists and four steals in Michigan's opener, and both were named to the 50-player preseason watch list for the 2027 Naismith Trophy.
- UConn opened with an 86-46 win over Gardner-Webb — Dan Hurley's 200th career win at Connecticut, and the third coach to reach 200 there — with Silas Demary Jr. scoring five points and Na'Jai Hines posting 12 points and 12 rebounds, the first Husky debut double-double since Liam McNeeley in the 2024-25 opener.
Why it matters: For Michigan backers, the +8.5 alternate offers more than the 7.5-point line UConn already draws on roughly 75% of tickets and handle. The modeling does not confirm a blowout — Haslametrics has UConn winning by one point, the article's model by seven — so the betting consensus and the numbers point in different directions.
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