North Texas vs Louisiana Tech 3/11/22 College Basketball Picks, Predictions, Odds

The Louisiana Tech Bulldogs and the North Texas Mean Green meet in college basketball action from the Ford Center at the Star on Friday afternoon.

The Louisiana Tech Bulldogs booked their spot in the semi-finals thanks to a 59-57 win over Western Kentucky last time out. Kenneth Lofton Jr. leads the Bulldogs in scoring and rebounding with 16.5 PPG and 10.5 RPG, averaging a double-double per game while Amorie Archibald has 13 PPG and 3.7 RPG this season. Keaston Willis has 12.2 PPG with 3.3 RPG and Cobe Williams has 11.3 PPG and a team-high 3.2 APG as well on the year for the Bulldogs, leading the team in assists and also capping off the group of double-digit scorers for LA Tech so far this season. As a team, LA Tech is averaging 76.9 PPG on 46% shooting from the field, 34.7% from three and 72.4% from the foul line while allowing 69 PPG on 41.9% shooting from the field and 33.9% from three this season.

The North Texas Mean Green will try to keep their momentum going to the C-USA title game after a 68-50 win over Rice in the quarterfinals last time out. Tylor Perry leads the Mean Green in scoring and assists with 13.7 PPG and 2.7 APG while Thomas Bell has 12.6 PPG with a team-high 6.9 RPG and 2.4 APG to lead the Mean Green on the glass and in assists this season. Mardrez McBride has 10.5 PPG with 3.1 RPG and Abou Ousmane has 10.1 PPG with 5.6 RPG to make up the group of double-digit scorers for North Texas so far this year. As a team, North Texas is averaging 65.8 PPG on 44.9% shooting from the field, 36.7% from three and 65.3% from the foul line while allowing 55.6 PPG on 41.7% shooting from the field and 28.1% from three this season.

I get the case to be made for the Bulldogs in this spot, but the reality for me is that North Texas is just too good with their defense. The Bulldogs are the far better offensive unit, but I look for the Mean Green’s defense to negate that and for North Texas to emerge with the win and cover in this one.