Who’s Playing
Penn State @ Texas
Regular Season Records: Penn State 23-13; Texas 27-8
What to Know
The #5 Texas Longhorns and the Penn State Nittany Lions are set to clash at 7:45 p.m. ET March 18 at Wells Fargo Arena in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
Texas earned some more postseason success in their game on Thursday. They blew past the Colgate Raiders 81-61. Texas’ guard Sir’Jabari Rice was one of the most active players for the squad, shooting 7-for-10 from beyond the arc and finishing with 23 points and six rebounds.
Meanwhile, while not quite a landslide, the contest between the Nittany Lions and the Texas A&M Aggies on Thursday was still a pretty decisive one as Penn State wrapped it up with a 76-59 victory. Penn State can attribute much of their success to guard Andrew Funk, who shot 8-for-10 from downtown and finished with 27 points.
Texas is the favorite in this one, with an expected 5.5-point margin of victory. They are currently six-for-six against the spread in their most recent games, a trend bettors might want to take into account.
A couple stats to keep an eye on: Texas comes into the matchup boasting the 18th most takeaways per game in college basketball at 16.1. On the other end of the spectrum, the Nittany Lions are stumbling into the contest with the 362nd fewest takeaways in college basketball, having accrued only 8.7 on average. So the cards are definitely stacked against Penn State.
How To Watch
- When: Saturday at 7:45 p.m. ET
- Where: Wells Fargo Arena — Des Moines, Iowa
- TV: CBS
- Follow: CBS Sports App
Odds
The Longhorns are a solid 5.5-point favorite against the Nittany Lions, according to the latest college basketball odds.
The oddsmakers were right in line with the betting community on this one, as the game opened as a 5.5-point spread, and stayed right there.
Over/Under: -110
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Series History
This is the first time these teams have played each other within the last eight years.
