Juan Pablo Aravena
Widely regarded as the weakest teams in the entire field of the NCAA Tournament, both Texas teams will battle it out for the “prize” of facing the top seed in the Midwest region, Kansas. In what is expected to be a matchup filled with stiff defenses and inconsistent offenses, who will be the winner of the first official game in this year’s March Madness?
Picks and Predictions for the Texas A&M-CC Islanders vs Texas Southern Tigers NCAA Basketball Championship First Four Game on March 15 2022
Where: University of Dayton Arena – Dayton, Ohio
When: Tuesday, March 15th, 6:40 PM ET
Betting Line: Texas A&M-CC Islanders (+1) vs Texas Southern Tigers (-1)
Texas A&M-CC Islanders Betting Preview
- Overall Record: 23-11
- Conference Record: 7-7
- Spread: +3.5
- Over/Under: Over 136
- Moneyline: +140
The great weapon of this team is their ability to dominate offensive rebounds, and they can also boost their hopes of pulling the upset thanks to their three-point shooting. Isaac Mushila is their leading scorer (13.5 points, 9.5 rebounds, 1.2 steals) and he is one of the few capable of scoring points in the paint or inside the arc, with Trevian Tennyson, Terrion Murdix and Simeon Fryer also operating as capable offensive threats. Depth is also a strength for them, as they have 10 players who average at least 7.0 minutes per game.
Texas Southern Tigers Betting Preview
- Overall Record: 18-12
- Conference Record: 13-5
- Spread: -3.5
- Over/Under: Under 136
- Moneyline: -160
On the other hand, the Tigers have a much stronger defense than the Islanders but suffer even more offensively, with none of their players averaging at least 10 points (the highest scorer in the team is John Walker III, with 9.9 points per game).
Another concern that the Texas Southern team brings is that their non-Conference record was a poor 2-7 mark, one of the worst in the entire nation, while the Islanders went 7-3 in non-Conference play. Perhaps their strongest suit will be their ability to control the glass and prevent second-chance points, but it seems they will have to rely too much on their defense to get the job done here.
JefeBet Prediction
With a forecast too complicated to put one of the two teams as the favorite, we believe that the non-conference performance of Texas A&M-CC will be the winner of the meeting but by a very small margin of difference. The score would probably be under 140 points between the two, with the Islanders winning by a tight 66-62 score.
