Grambling State Tigers (19-14) vs. Montana State Bobcats (17-17)
March 20, 2024 6:40 pm EDT
The Line: Montana State Bobcats -4.5; Over/Under: +134
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The Grambling Tigers and the Montana State Bobcats meet Wednesday in the college basketball NCAA Tournament First Round at the UD Arena. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best bets for this game. Here’s a Grambling vs. Montana State Prediction.
Grambling Team Preview
The Grambling Tigers come into the NCAA tournament as the SWAC tournament champions, finishing the year with a record of 20-14. Kintavious Dozier leads the Tigers in scoring with 13.2 PPG while Tra’Michael Moton has 11.4 PPG and 2.4 APG to lead the Tigers in assists. Antwan Burnett has 10.3 PPG and 6.4 RPG in 22 games to cap off the group of double-digit scorers for Grambling up to this point in the year. As a team, Grambling is averaging 67.4 PPG on 43.9% shooting from the field, 33.2% from three and 71.3% from the foul line this season.
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Montana State Team Preview
The Montana State Bobcats come into the NCAA Tournament repping the Big Sky as tournament champions, finishing the year 17-17 overall. Robert Ford III leads the Bobcats in scoring and rebounding with 15.7 PPG and 7.6 RPG along with 3 APG and 2.9 SPG while Brian Goracke has 13.8 PPG and 4.4 RPG. Brandon Walker has 13 PPG with 3.9 RPG to cap off the scoring in double figures for Montana State so far this season. Eddie Turner III has a team-high 3.7 APG as well to lead the Bobcats in assists up to this point in the year. As a team, Montana State is averaging 74.8 PPG on 46.5% shooting from the floor, 37% from three-point range and 73.5% from the foul line this season.
Grambling vs. Montana State Prediction
I’m backing Montana State here. I’ll give Grambling props as this team was solid in conference play and like a lot of SWAC teams, they scheduled up in a lot of non-conference games. However, Montana State’s still the better offense here by a fair margin and I don’t know if Grambling’s offense is built to exploit Montana State’s weakness which is defending inside the arc as Grambling’s 305th nationally in 2-point shooting. Montana State’s got the tournament experience as this team is making their third straight NCAA tournament appearance, and I think that experience is the difference in this game. Give me Montana State in this one.
