NCAA Tournament Picks: Wichita State vs Drake College Basketball Picks, Odds, Predictions 3/18/21

The Wichita State Shockers face the Drake Bulldogs Thursday in college basketball NCAA Tournament First Fout Play-in game action from Mackey Arena. 

Coming into this NCAA Tournament First Four matchup, Drake sits at 25-4 overall. The Bulldogs are 1-2 in their last three games and coming off a loss to Loyola Chicago. As for Wichita State, they’re 16-5 this season. The Shockers had an eight-game win streak snapped by Cincinnati in their last game. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place. 

Drake has been a pretty consistent team so far this year, and they’re yet to lose consecutive games. The Bulldogs have hit a bit of a skid over their last three games at 1-2 however. In that stretch Drake has a win over Missouri State while falling otherwise to Bradley and Loyola Chicago. 

In the 75-65 loss to the Ramblers on March 7, Drake’s Tremell Murphy and DJ Wilkins each notched 20 poitns, combining for six rebounds and six assists as well. Joseph Yesufu added 12 points with one rebound and two assists as well. 

Over on the Wichita State side, they’ve lost consecutive games just once this season (way back in early December) so they’ve been quite the model of consistency as well. The Shockers had a nice eight-game win streak going before falling to Cincinnati on Saturday. 

In the 60-59 heartbreaker loss to Cincinnati on Saturday, Wichita State’s Alterique Gilbert led the team on 14 points with five assists and four rebounds. Tyson Etienne added 13 points with four rebounds and three assists, and Morris Udeze had 11 points with seven boards. 

The Bulldogs are 7-0 ATS in their last seven Thursday games and 5-1-1 ATS in their last seven after an ATS loss. Drake is 20-6-1 ATS in their last 27 overall and 18-7-2 ATS in their last 27 neutral-site games. 

Meanwhile, the Shockers are 3-1-1 ATS in their last five after a straight-up loss and 3-7 ATS in their last 10 overall. Wichita State is 1-3-1 ATS in their last five Thursday games and 1-4 ATS in their last five neutral-site games. 

PICK: I’m going to stick with Wichita State in this one. The Shockers were in a nice rhythm during their recent win streak, despite a couple of close calls. Wichita State hit 68 or more points in all eight games, before hitting the wall against a good Cincinnati team on Saturday. This should be a more favorable matchup for the Shockers offensively, and though it should be close most of the way I like a late cover here.