College Basketball Picks

NCAA Tournament: Purdue vs North Texas 3/19/21 College Basketball Picks, Odds, Predictions

NCAA Tournament: Purdue vs North Texas 3/19/21 College Basketball Picks, Odds, Predictions
2021-03-19 19:25:00 EDT

The Purdue Boilermakers battle the North Texas Mean Green in an NCAA tournament first round matchup from Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis on Friday night as March Madness continues.

The North Texas Mean Green booked their spot at the Big Dance thanks to winning the C-USA conference tournament, taking down Middle Tennessee, Old Dominion, Louisiana Tech and Western Kentucky to hoist the trophy and make their first tournament appearance since 2010. Javion Hamlet leads North Texas in scoring and assists with 15 PPG and 4.5 APG while James Reese has 10.8 PPG with 4.5 RPG and Zachary Simmons has 10.3 PPG with a team-high 6.2 RPG to lead North Texas on the glass this season. Thomas Bell also has 10.3 PPG and 5.7 RPG for the Mean Green on the year. As a team, North Texas is averaging 71 PPG on 48.4% shooting from the field and 37.2% from three while allowing 62.5 PPG on 41.7% shooting from the field and 33.7% from three this season.

The Purdue Boilermakers come into the tournament with an at-large bid after posting a record of 18-9 in the regular season before being ousted by eventual tournament runner-up Ohio State in their lone Big Ten tournament matchup. Trevion Williams leads the Boilermakers in scoring and rebounding with 15.6 PPG and 9 RPG while Jadan Ivey has 10.5 PPG with 3.4 RPG as the only other double-digit scorer for Purdue this season. Sasha Stefanovic has 9.3 PPG with 2.6 APG and 7-3 center Zach Edey has 9 PPG with 4.5 RPG while Eric Hunter Jr. has 8.8 PPG with a team-high 2.8 APG this season. As a team, Purdue is averaging 70.8 PPG on 45.2% shooting from the field and 33.5% from three while allowing 65.5 PPG on 41.2% shooting from the field and 31.3% from three this season.

North Texas is 4-0 ATS in their last 4 games overall and 5-0 ATS in their last 5 neutral site games while the under is 4-0-1 in their last 5 neutral site games as an underdog. Purdue is 5-1 ATS in their last 6 games overall and 7-3-1 ATS in their last 11 games against a team with a winning record while the over is 10-2 in their last 12 NCAA tournament games.

I think a case could be made for either side here as Purdue’s had the tougher schedule this season but no one can count out North Texas with how stingy the Mean Green can be on defense. Instead, I’m going to ride both teams defense and side with the under here. I honestly this is a game where the first to 60 ends up winning it and I have a hard time getting myself above 120 let alone 127 in this one so give me the under.

Chris Ruffolo's Free Pick: Under 127

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Chris Ruffolo

Chris joined the Sports Chat Place team in August 2016 and has a proven system that combines multiple analytical and situational statistics and trends to give out thousands of winning picks over the last three years with winning records across all of the top leagues, Follow Chris Ruffolo on Twitter @ruffthepickdawg

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