Texas A&M vs Alcorn State 3/15/22 College Basketball Picks, Predictions, Odds

The Alcorn State and the Texas A&M Aggies meet in an NIT first round matchup from the Reed Arena on Wednesday night.

The Alcorn State Braves come into the NIT on behalf of the SWAC after finishing 17-16 overall, including 14-4 in conference play. The Braves beat Prairie View A&M and Alabama A&M before falling to Texas Southern in the conference championship game. Justin Thomas leads Alcorn State in scoring with 10.9 PPG as the lone double-digit scorer for Alcorn State so far this year while Keondre Montgomery has 9.8 PPG. Dominic Brewton has 8.6 PPG with 5.2 RPG and Lenell Henry has 8.3 PPG with a team-high 5.4 RPG to lead the Braves on the glass. Darrious Agnew also has 9 PPG for the Braves this season. As a team, Alcorn State is averaging 66.8 PPG on 42% shooting from the field, 32.2% from three and 70.3% from the foul line while allowing 71 PPG on 45% shooting from the field and 34.4% from three this season.

The Texas A&M Aggies come into the NIT repping the SEC, finishing with a record of 23-12 including a 9-9 mark in conference play. As the tournament 8 seed, the Aggies beat Florida and upset Auburn and Arkansas before losing to Tennessee in the conference championship game. Quenton Jackson leads the Aggies in scoring with 14.6 PPG while Henry Coleman III has 11.2 PPG and a team-high 6.3 RPG to lead the Aggies on the glass. Tyrece Radford has 10.9 PPG with 5.8 RPG to make up the group of double-digit scorers for Texas A&M this season and Marcus Williams has a team-high 3.4 APG as well this season. As a team, Texas A&M is averaging 73.1 PPG on 44.4% shooting from the field, 32.6% from three and 69% from the foul line while allowing 66.7 PPG on 42.3% shooting from the field and 33% from three this season.

Alcorn State is 7-1 ATS in their last 8 games following a loss by 20 or more points and 4-0 ATS in their last 4 road games against a team with a home winning percentage above .600 while the over is 4-0 in their last 4 games following a double-digit loss at home. Texas A&M is 7-1 ATS in their last 8 games overall and 4-0 ATS in their last 4 home games while the over is 12-5 in their last 17 games overall.

I get why A&M is favored so heavily here, but you have to wonder if motivation will be there for the Aggies. I mean this is a Texas A&M team that made a run all the way to the SEC title game and still fell short of the tournament. This is Alcorn State’s super bowl, and the Braves have covered big numbers against the better teams in college hoops all year long I look for this one to be no different. Give me Alcorn State and the points.