The Texas A&M Corpus Christi Islanders and Texas Southern Tigers face off in the First Four on Tuesday night in Dayton, Ohio. These No. 16 seeds will battle for the right to move on to face No. 1 Kansas in Fort Worth.
March Madness odds with the Tigers installed as 3.5-point favorites for the first game of the NCAA Tournament. Here are our best free Texas A&M Corpus Christi vs Texas Southern March Madness picks and predictions for Tuesday, March 14, with tipoff at 6:40 p.m. ET.
Texas A&M-CC vs Texas Southern odds
This odds widget represents the best odds available for each betting market from regulated sportsbooks.
This line opened with the Tigers installed as 3.5-point favorites with the Over/Under at 136. Early money came in on the Over, shifting the total to 136.5
Use the live odds widget above to track any future line movements right up until tip-off and be sure to check out the full college basketball odds before placing your bets.
Texas A&M-CC vs Texas Southern predictions
Predictions made on 3/14/2022 at 12:05 p.m. ET.
Click on each prediction to jump to the full analysis.
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Texas A&M-CC vs Texas Southern game info
• Location: UD Arena, Dayton, OH
• Date: Tuesday, March 15, 2022
• Tip-off: 6:40 p.m. ET
• TV: truTV
Texas A&M-CC vs Texas Southern betting preview
Injuries
Texas A&M-CC: No injuries to report.
Texas Southern: No injuries to report.
Find our latest NCAA basketball injury reports.
Betting trend to know
The Islanders are 10-3 ATS in their last 13 games as underdogs. Find more NCAA betting trends for Texas A&M-CC vs. Texas Southern.
Texas A&M-CC vs Texas Southern picks and predictions
Our side and total predictions are based upon our analysis of the line and total in this game. Our best bet is our favorite pick across all markets.
Spread analysis
The Islanders haven't experienced March Madness in 15 years and clinched their return to the Big Dance with a 73-65 win against Southeastern Louisiana in the Southland Conference Tournament championship game. The Lions came into that contest as the highest-scoring team in the conference but the Islanders limited them to a 38 FG% and held them without a field goal in the final five minutes.
The Islanders were mired in a slump at the start of February, losing five in a row, but turned things around at the right time and are now 7-1 straight up and against the spread in their last eight games.
Defense has been the backbone of this team with the Islanders allowing a conference-low 69.9 points per game on 41.7 FG%. Corpus Christi has been far less efficient on offense and their top two scorers during the regular season have taken a backseat in the postseason while guards Terrion Murdix and Simeon Fryer have stepped up.
Defense has also been the calling card for the Tigers who are allowing just 91.7 points per 100 possessions, the 26th-best mark in the country. The Tigers are no strangers to this stage having appeared in six of the last eight NCAA Tournaments. That includes three trips to the First Four, most recently last season when they beat Mount St. Mary's.
The Tigers had a brutal start to their season when they faced a daunting out-of-conference schedule and dropped seven games in a row. But they upset Florida 69-54 in Tallahassee on December 6 and got their mojo back. They have won 13 of their last 15 games (6-8-1 ATS) and blew out Alcorn State and Grambling State in the finals and semifinals of the SWAC Tournament.
Southern doesn't have a single player scoring in double-digits but has plenty of depth with seven regulars averaging more than 20 minutes per game and two others just under that mark.
While both of these teams turn the ball over way too much, the Islanders do a much better job of pressuring their opponents and generating extra scoring attempts (17th in the country with 4.6 extra scoring chances per game). They also shoot at a respectable 75% clip from the charity stripe while the Tigers rank outside the Top 300 with a 67.1 FT%. That could be the deciding factor in what is expected to be a close, lower-scoring game.
Prediction: Texas A&M CC +3.5 (-110)
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Over/Under analysis
Both of these sides have been far better defensively than offensively this season. The Tigers are 26th in the country in defensive efficiency while the Islanders are 97th. Meanwhile, Corpus Christi is 174th in offensive efficiency, and Southern ranks 238th.
Both teams have also been even impressive on the defensive end of the floor lately. The Tigers are holding opponents to just 65.5 ppg on a 39.6 FG% and were nothing short of sensational in the SWAC tournament, allowing just 55.3 ppg and held Alcorn State to a 28 FG% in the finals.
Nicholls State and Southeastern Louisiana were the top two offenses in the SLC this season (averaging an identical 79.1 ppg) but were held to 64 and 65 points respectively on a combined 37% shooting by the Islanders in the SLC tourney semifinals and finals. Take the Under.
Prediction: Under 136.5 (-110)
Best bet
It's definitely tough figuring out what side to bet on between these tiny Texas programs but all signs seem to point towards this being a lower-scoring game. The Under looks like the play to make in this contest.
Pick: Under 136.5 (-110)
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