NCAA basketball on Friday evening and we will see the North Carolina Central Eagles take on the Iowa State Cyclones in the 2nd round of the NCAA Tournament, which is being played at the AT&T Center in San Antonio, Texas. The game has a start time of 9:50 pm (Eastern) and will be televised on TNT. Vegas odds have the Cyclones listed as 8 point favorites, while the total sits at 145.
Stat Pack: The NC Central Eagles got to the Big Dance by beating Morgan State in the MEAC Title game. The Eagles also won the regular season title and they have gone 28-5 overall, while winning their last 20 games they’ve played. The Eagle come in averaging 73.9 ppg (88th) on 46.3% shooting (73rd). Jeremy Ingram leads the offense with 20.6 ppg, while the only other player to average in double figures for them is Jordan Parks at 10.2 ppg. Jay Copeland (8.1 ppg) leads the team in rebounding (5.8 rpg). This team is more about their defense, as they come in ranked 7th in points allowed (58.5 ppg), 2nd in defensive FG% (37.3%) and 9th in 3 point defense (29.5%). They will be tested by the Iowa State offense.
The Iowa State Cyclones beat the Bears in the Big 12 finals to grab the automatic bid to the Big Dance. The win now has the Cyclones at 26-7 on the year and they have won 4 in a row. The Cyclones are a high scoring team that averages 82.9 ppg, which is 6th in the nation and they do so on 47.1% shooting, which is 38th in the land. The Cyclones have 3 players that average at least 16 ppg, led by Melvin Ejim, who scores 18.1 ppg, while DeAndre Kane (17.0 ppg) and Georges Niang (1656 ppg) round out the solid trio. Kane leads the team in assists (192), while Dustin Hogue leads the team in rebounding (8.6 rpg), while also averaging 10.7 ppg. Although the Cyclones allow teams to hit just 41.4% of their shots (80th), this is not a good defense as they allow 73.9 ppg on the year, which is 278th in the nation. The Cyclones are a good rebounding team as they rank 21st, pulling down 38.8 rpg.
Pick: I will look to the under in this game. Iowa State is a high scoring team, but they will be taking on a tough defensive team in NC Central, as the Eagles come in allowing just 58.5 ppg (7th) on 37.3% shooting (2nd) they are also 9th in the nation at defending the 3 ball and that is a strength of the Cyclones. Iowa State does take a lot of threes, but they only hit 35.1% of them, which is 145th in the nation. NC Central is also weak from long range, hitting just 33.8% of their threes, which is 201st in the nation. NC Central should be able to slow the game down with their defense and that should keep this one in the 130's.
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