A dramatic shift in the point spread for a men’s basketball game between the Temple Owls and UAB Blazers has triggered an investigation from gambling company U.S. Integrity on Thursday night, according to Sports Illustrated. UAB was -1.5 point favorite over Temple to open the day; hours later, the line had moved to UAB -8 without any significant injury news or roster changes altering the outlook of the game.
UAB beat Temple, 100-72, in the American Athletic Conference matchup. Temple drops to 11-19 overall. The Owls’ season will soon be over barring a miracle run in the AAC tournament.
The AAC hired U.S. Integrity to monitor gambling activity around the conference. The company says its mission is to “identify suspicious behavior by analyzing changes in betting data against a benchmark of normal betting activity.” U.S. Integrity also helped catch the impossibly stupid Alabama baseball gambling scandal from earlier this year.
Temple put out the following statement.
Statement from Temple: “We are aware of the social media posts regarding last night’s men’s basketball game. We will review the reports thoroughly in accordance with university and NCAA policies. While we can’t comment any further at this time, we take this matter very… https://t.co/KFQwuiikUp
— Pat Forde (@ByPatForde) March 8, 2024
Here’s what we know so far.
The Temple-UAB line moved significantly for no real reason
Going from a 1.5-point spread to an 8-point spread is extremely strange without a valid reason. There doesn’t appear to be one in this instance.
This isn’t the first time a Temple line has moved significantly at the last moment
College basketball analyst Jim Root mentioned that this was the second time one of Temple’s spreads had moved dramatically just hours before the game.
People are talking about it
There was a lot of chatter about what the heck was going on with the Temple line on social media:
The spread on UAB/Temple today moved from UAB -2.5 to UAB -7.5/8 starting around noon ET today. Haven’t seen/heard any Temple injury news, very odd to have a move of that magnitude so late.
Game on ESPN2 tonight.
Would think lots of people will be watching closely tonight.
— Jack Miller (@JackMiller02) March 7, 2024
Unusual and interesting betting activity on the UAB-Temple basketball game tonight. The game opened as UAB a 2 to 2.5 point favorite over Temple. Then at about 1:30p the betting activity went crazy and the line moved up to 8 in some books before tip at 7p. There are Sportsbooks…
— Howard Eskin (@howardeskin) March 8, 2024
This is not a typical match-fixing allegation you hear from an angry bettor or someone on the wrong side of an outcome. You need the pregame odds movement to go with it. And it seems like someone may have messed up badly here by not covering their tracks enough.
— Dave Connelly (@DaveConnellySG) March 8, 2024
Gambling companies are now a major factor in American sports, with most leagues have partnerships with industry leaders. While the NFL has suspended some players over gambling the last two seasons, there still hasn’t been a real “match fixing” scandal in the mainstream. Are these allegations about the Temple-UAB game the start of one?
