A staggering Sports Illustrated article was published earlier today, reporting on a possible gambling ring connection between college basketball games and the since-banned NBA player Jontay Porter.
Eye-Opening Article Reports as Many as 9 College Basketball Games Under Gambling Investigation
Amid the uptick in popularity in recent years, sports gambling has also brought many downsides, highlighted by the banning of Porter.
Porter was allegedly part of an illegal gambling ring, in which he left multiple games early to ensure the “under” of his player props would be successful. Porter was issued a lifetime ban from the NBA and is set to be sentenced to an estimated 3.5 years in prison.
A ground-breaking Sports Illustrated article has released new coverage on some of the same characters involved in the Porter scandal. This time, it’s surrounding numerous college basketball games. The number is cited at nine games but could be many more.
“Investigators have flagged unusual wagering on games involving at least five college teams—and they are prepared for that number to increase,” the report suggested.
This could be one of the most pervasive point-shaving scandals in North American sports history.@ByPatForde and @Rosenberg_Mike detail the current investigation into the gambling ring that ensnared Jontay Porter and the links to nine college games: https://t.co/i0LXFFR54Y pic.twitter.com/NQjqIlxhLe
— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) February 25, 2025
One of those teams involved was the Temple Owls men’s basketball team.
Integrity Compliance 360’s website describes itself as delivering “cutting-edge solutions that empower organizations to uphold the highest standards of integrity, compliance, and operational excellence.”
IC360 “started receiving reports from offshore properties about unusual betting on five Temple games: against Memphis on Feb. 8, Charlotte on Feb. 11, Wichita State on Feb. 25, Rice on Feb. 28 and Tulsa on March 2,” SI reported.
“But it was a sixth Temple game, against Alabama-Birmingham on March 7, that spurred the firm to issue an alert to be sent to gaming regulators nationwide.”
The line began with Alabama-Birmingham being favored by a mere 2.5 before leaping 7.5 points at tip-off. The Blazers won by 28 points, far covering the line and producing red flags from IC360. The game made news cycles right away — “but it followed a pattern that had built up over a month,” Sports Illustrated said.
IC360 immediately sent an alert because “the evidence was stronger [that game] than the other games,” a source told SI.
Temple trailed at halftime by an average margin of 11.2 points in five of the games — a direct arrow pointing towards the halftime spread being a possible gambling ring bet.
As SI reasoned, first-half spreads can be attractive for point-shavers “for obvious reasons: Players can rig a bet in the first half and still go all out to win the game in the second.”
Hysier Miller, the Owls’ leading scorer at 15.9 ppg during that time, was especially caught in the probe. Against UAB, Miller shot three of nine from the field and turned the ball over three times while scoring only eight points.
Adding to the mystique — and potentially concern — Miller transferred to join the Virginia Tech Hokies prior to the 2024 season. But he didn’t play a minute for the Hokies, as he was dismissed from the team in October 2024.
In the universities’ words, he was dismissed due to “circumstances prior to his enrollment at Virginia Tech.”
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Sources confirmed with SI “that Miller’s performance at Temple was part of federal and NCAA probes.” Miller currently plays professional basketball in Germany.
To date, no charges have been pressed in the entire instance related to the fixing of college basketball games. The investigation is ongoing, however, with evidence suggesting slimy characters may have their hands in the wrong spots.
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