Mount St. Mary’s vs Texas Southern College Basketball Picks, Odds, Predictions 3/18/21

The Texas Southern Tigers and Mount St. Mary’s Mountaineers meet Thursday in the college basketball First Four at the Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.

The Texas Southern Tigers are riding a nine-game winning streak and just won the SWAC Tournament. The Texas Southern Tigers are averaging 74 points on 44.5 percent shooting and allowing 70.2 points on 40.5 percent shooting. Michael Weathers is averaging 16.5 points and 5.2 rebounds while John Walker III is averaging 12 points and 5.4 rebounds. Joirdon Karl Nicholas is the third double-digit scorer and Galen Alexander is grabbing 4.8 rebounds. The Texas Southern Tigers are shooting 28.4 percent from beyond the arc and 69.6 percent from the free throw line. The Texas Southern Tigers are allowing 32.2 percent shooting from deep and are grabbing 36.4 rebounds per game.

The Mount St. Mary’s Mountaineers are riding a four-game winning streak and just won the NEC Tournament. The Mount St. Mary’s Mountaineers are averaging 63.2 points on 42.5 percent shooting and allowing 62.2 points on 40.9 percent shooting. Jalen Gibbs is averaging 16.5 points and 4.8 rebounds while Damian Chong Qui is averaging 15.1 points and 4.2 rebounds. Nana Opoku is the third double-digit scorer and Mezie Offurum is grabbing 5.8 rebounds. The Mount St. Mary’s Mountaineers are shooting 34.2 percent from beyond the arc and 67.2 percent from the free throw line. The Mount St. Mary’s Mountaineers are allowing 29.8 percent shooting from deep and are grabbing 33.7 rebounds per game.

The Tigers are 4-1 ATS in their last 5 games as a favorite and 4-0 ATS in their last 4 games overall. The Mountaineers are 4-0 ATS in their last 4 Thursday games and 4-0 ATS in their last 4 games overall. The over is 21-10-1 in Tigers last 32 overall. The over is 4-1 in Mountaineers last 5 overall.

These play-in games between two 16 seeds are always difficult to predict, but the Texas Southern Tigers have head and shoulders more scoring depth and they showed us more with their schedule, as they hung around with Washington State and Saint Mary’s, and they beat Wyoming. The Mount St. Mary’s Mountaineers are a grind it out defensive club that’s had issues playing up to competition and the offense can go quiet for long stretches. Texas Southern should win this game, so I’ll lay the bucket.