Free CBB Pick: Tigers vs. Mountaineers NCAAB Odds
Looking for Texas Southern Tigers vs. Mount Saint Mary’s Mountaineers NCAA basketball free picks & CBB odds? CBB betting sees the Tigers taking on the Mountaineers on Thursday, March 18th, 2021, at Assembly Hall in Indianapolis, Indiana. Cappers Picks provides complimentary expert handicapping picks on all college basketball matchups all season long so stay tuned for more FREE daily basketball predictions like this Texas Southern Mount Saint Mary’s matchup.
2021 NCAA Basketball Handicapping
(16-8) Texas Southern Tigers vs. Mount Saint Mary’s Mountaineers (12-10)
Date: Thursday, March 18th, 2021
Time: 5:10 PM ET
Venue: Assembly Hall in Indianapolis, Indiana
Moneyline Odds: Tigers (-130), Mountaineers (+120)
Betting Odds: Texas Southern -2
Betting Total: O/U 132.5
After no tournament in 2020, The First Four Kicks off on Thursday with the first game of the day happening between the Texas Southern Tigers and the Mount Saint Mary’s Mountaineers.
The Tigers defeated the top-seeded Prairie View A&M 80-61 to punch their ticket to the big dance, while Mount Saint Mary’s also took down the top seed in their conference (Bryant) 73-68 to advance into this game.
Texas Southern Tigers
The Tigers dominated the top dog Prairie View A&M in the finals to move into an NCAA tournament bid. Now they will have an uphill battle against a Mount Saint Mary’s team that matches up with them very well defensively.
Texas Southern has the best player from the SWAC on their team in Micheal Weathers. Weathers was a part of the Oklahoma State Cowboys before an incident kicked him off the team. He is way too talented to be in this conference and can put up 20 points easily on any given night. He leads this Texas Southern team in scoring with 16.5 points per game and also dishes out a team high 3.5 assists a night.
Weathers is not a lone ranger on this roster – the primary rotation features imports from a group of distinguished programs, such as Georgetown (Galen Alexander), Texas A&M (John Walker), Nevada (John Jones), UMass (Chris Baldwin), and Stephen F. Austin (Joirdon Karl Nicholas)
Johnny Jones’s team had the best offense in the SWAC this season. They scored an average of 74.79 points per game with most of their damage coming from driving the basketball. TSU is one of the worst three-point shooting teams in the country clocking in at 344th in the country. They sport an appalling 27.43% from beyond the arc.
Defensively, the Tigers squad is average. They surrender 69.59 points per game and allow opponents to shoot 49.0% from the floor and 32.9% from beyond the arc.
Mount Saint Mary’s Mountaineers
After a three-game losing streak in mid-February, the Mountaineer’s rattled off four-straight wins to solidify their chance to face the #1 seed in this year’s tournament. After leading scorer and all-around best player Jalen Gibbs opted to transfer just four games into the season, Damian Chong Qui was thrown into the leader role of the offense.
At 5’8 he may not seem like a threat offensively, but he is the Mount’s best playmaker. He averages a team-high 15.1 points and 5.5 assists per game. Chong Qui is the mid-major of Kihei Clark in my opinion the way he controls the ball so well and especially the way he sets up plays for the big-guys down low. The combination of Nana Opuku (10.3 PPG), Mezie Offerum (9.4 PPG), and Damian Jefferson (8.4 PPG) is a wrecking crew on the block. As a team, Saint Mary’s averages 4.1 blocks per game which lead their conference, but nationally it was 56th.
Saint Mary’s averages 64.40 points per game which ranked 329th in college basketball. They shoot 42.62% from the floor and 33.72% from behind the three-point line. The Mountaineers are on the slowest team in the country on offense, even when they steal the ball they pull it out and take down the entire shot clock.
On the defensive side of the ball, the Mount is very sound under Dan Engelstad. They surrender an average of 62.3 points per game which is ranked 17th nationally. Engelstad uses a combination of man and zone to make the opponents try to shoot over the bigs in the paint.
Betting Trends:
- Texas Southern is 4-1-1 ATS in their last 6 games.
- The total has gone OVER in 8 of Texas Southern’s last 12 games.
- Texas Southern is 9-0 SU in their last 9 games.
- Texas Southern is 5-0 SU in their last 5 games this season.
- Mount St. Mary’s are 4-1 ATS in their last 5 games.
- The total has gone OVER in 4 of Mount St. Mary’s last 5 games.
- Mount St. Mary’s are 4-1 SU in their last 5 games.
Free Texas Southern Tigers vs. Mount Saint Mary’s Mountaineers NCAAB Prediction:
I love the Mount and the points in this spot. Damian Chong-Qui has taken off to a whole other level since scoring 12 straight points for the Mount to put away Fairleigh Dickensen and start their four-game winning streak.
Not only does MSM roll out three bigs but they don’t foul. Coach Englestad deploys his enormous bigs in a strategic manner, forcing adversaries to shoot over the giant bodies without reaching.
I think Mezie Offurum is mobile enough to keep the ex-power five-player, Micheal Weathers, in check. He’s more than capable defensively of keeping Weathers in front and holds a 5-inch height advantage, which should give him the advantage to contest and bother Weathers’ pull-up jumper.
All in all the Mountaineer’s defensive attack should be able to fend off the scoring of the power five transfers that Texas Southern deploys. Give me the Mount in a tight battle to cover and get the win to advance in the tournament.
4* Free NCAA College Basketball Betting Pick: Mount Saint Mary’s +2
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