2023 Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic Preview
TCU, Hawaii Teams to Watch
Seven of the Last 10 Diamond Head Classic Title Games Decided by Single Digits
The 2023 Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic brings seven teams to join host Hawaii in the three-day tournament. Hawaii is the defending champion after beating Southern Methodist in the 2022 title game when listed by the college basketball betting lines as a 4.5-point favorite.
TCU and Hawaii are the only teams in the tournament that have previously won the tournament with the Horned Frogs rolling past Indiana State 83-69 in the 2018 title game.
There has been a recent history of competitive title games with seven of the last 10 Diamond Head Classic championship contests being decided by less than 10 points. The 2022 final was the first one since Arizona‘s 68-67 win over San Diego State to finish as a one-score game.
Things get underway on Dec. 21 when Nevada meets Temple followed by TCU squaring off with Old Dominion. Both games will be on ESPNU.
ESPN2 will televise the Georgia Tech-UMass and Portland-Hawaii first-round games.
The semifinals are set for Friday with the title game on Sunday, Dec. 24 at 5 p.m. ET. All the games will be played at the Stan Sheriff Center in Honolulu.
TCU (+6000) has the best odds to win March Madness among the eight teams in the tournament.
Here’s a look at the four first-round matchups being played Thursday.
Game 1
Nevada vs Temple 
Day/Time:
Streaming: ESPNU
This will be the first meeting between the Wolfpack and the Owls as the teams open the 2023 Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic.
Nevada is off to a 9-1 start after beating Hawai’i 72-66 on Sunday. The only loss came to Drake.
Former Oregon State guard Jarod Lucas joins Kenan Blackshear as the player scoring more than 15 points per game for Nevada.
Temple lost to Virginia Commonwealth 87-78 in its last game to fall to 6-4.
Junior Hysier Miller is the leader in scoring (18.2 points per game) and assists (4.8) for the Owls.
Temple is 5-3-1 against the spread while Nevada has covered in seven of its 10 games.
Six of Temple’s games have finished over the total. Five of Nevada’s 10 games have gone over the total.
Game 2
Texas Christian vs Old Dominion 
Day/Time:
Streaming: ESPNU
TCU (8-1) bounced back from a loss to Clemson by topping Arizona State 79-59 in the USLBM Coast-to-Coast Challenge behind 18 points from Emanuel Miller. It was his eighth straight double-digit scoring game.
When looking at the NCAAB results, Old Dominion (3-6) has lost its last three games by an average of 11 points.
Chaunce Jenkins leads the Monarchs with an average of 16.7 points per game.
This is the first meeting between the teams since Old Dominion’s 67-62 win as a 4.5-point underdog back in 2004.
ODU has covered in just two of its games this season with five games going over the total. TCU is 4-5 against the college basketball odds so far this season.
Among Big 12 teams, only BYU and Houston have seen fewer games finish over the total than the mark of four by TCU.
Game 3
Georgia Tech vs UMass 
Day/Time: Streaming: ESPN2
Georgia Tech edged Penn State in overtime thanks to a pair of Miles Kelly free throws to improve to 6-3 and win its second consecutive game.
Kelly is putting up 16.2 points and 6.2 rebounds per game.
UMass (6-2) has put up 91 and 87 points in the last two games.
The Minutemen are led by Saint Francis (PA) transfer Josh Cohen as he is averaging 18.1 points on 58.4% shooting, 7.9 rebounds, and 1.5 steals.
This is the first matchup between Georgia Tech and UMass since 1995 when UMass won 75-67 as 11-point favorites.
The Minutemen have covered in six of the eight games this season.
Georgia Tech’s 4-5 mark against the spread is ahead of only North Carolina among ACC teams.
Six of Georgia Tech’s first nine games landed under the total. UMass leads the Atlantic-10 with seven of its eight games going over the total.
Game 4
Portland vs Hawaii 
Day/Time:
Streaming: ESPN2
Portland (6-6) is trying to rebound from a 28-point loss to Grand Canyon over the weekend.
Tyler Robertson has scored in double figures in every game this season while freshman Tyler Harris and sophomore Vukasin Music are the other double-digit scorers.
Noel Coleman has three 20-point games for the host Hawaii with the Rainbows going 3-0 in those contests. Hawaii (7-2) fell to Nevada in its last game. When the 2023 Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic gets underway, Hawaii looks to become the first team to win back-to-back titles.
This is just the third meeting between the teams in the last 20 years with Hawaii winning 82-64 as a seven-point favorite in 2018 and 76-64 when favored by two points in the 2011 CollegeInsider.com tournament.
Portland has covered in five of its first 10 games with Hawaii 3-4 versus the spread against Division I teams. Seven of Portland’s games ended up going under the total. Just three Hawaii games against Division I foes landed over the total.
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