NCAA Tournament: Purdue vs. Yale 3/18/22 College Basketball Picks, Predictions, Odds

The Purdue Boilermakers and Yale Bulldogs clash Friday in an NCAA tournament first round matchup in college basketball action from the Fiserv Forum.

The Yale Bulldogs come into this one as the #14 seed, finishing the year at 19-11, including an 11-3 mark in Ivy League play. The Bulldogs took out Penn in the semifinals before beating Princeton in the conference championship game. Azar Swain leads the Bulldogs in scoring and rebounding with 19.1 PPG and 4.1 RPG while Jalen Gabbidon has 11.8 PPG with 3.5 RPG to make up the pair of double-digit scorers for Yale so far this season. Matthue Cotton also has 7.3 PPG for the Bulldogs up to this point in the year. As a team, Yale is averaging 72.8 PPG on 44.3% shooting from the field, 32.6% from three and 74.2% from the foul line while allowing 69.3 PPG on 42.4% shooting from the field and 30.4% from three this season.

The Purdue Boilermakers come into the NCAA tournament as the #3 seed, finishing the year at 27-7 overall including a 14-6 conference record. Purdue took out Penn State in the quarters and Michigan State in the semis before falling to Iowa in the conference championship game. Jaden Ivey leads the Boilermakers in scoring with 17.3 PPG along with 4.9 RPG and 3.1 APG while Zach Edey has 14.6 PPG with 7.6 RPG. Trevion Williams has 11.6 PPG with 7.2 RPG and 3.1 APG and Sasha Stefanovic has 10.9 PPG with a team-high 3.2 APG to lead the Boilermakers in assists while rounding out the group of double-digit scorers for Purdue so far this season. As a team, Purdue is averaging 80.7 PPG on 49.7% shooting from the field, 39.7% from three and 70.5% from the foul line while allowing 68.8 PPG on 42.8% shooting from the field and 33.9% from three this season.

Yale is 20-7 ATS in their last 27 neutral site games and 5-13 ATS in their last 18 games against a team with a winning record while the under is 4-1 in their last 5 games as an underdog. Purdue is 0-6-2 ATS in their last 8 games against a team with a winning record and 1-4 ATS in their last 5 neutral site games while the over is 4-0 in their last 4 NCAA tournament games.

I get the case to be made for Purdue as the home favorite here. However, Purdue is terrible at defending the perimeter, and Yale has a couple of pretty good shooters including Azar Swain that can give Yale a legitimate chance to pull off an upset. Do I think it happens? I’m not 100% there, but I think the Bulldogs can keep this one within reach. Give me the Bulldogs and the points here.