Western Kentucky vs North Texas College Basketball Picks, Odds, Predictions 3/13/21

The Western Kentucky Hilltoppers and the North Texas Mean Green meet in the Conference USA championship game in college basketball action from the Ford Center at the Star on Saturday night.

The Western Kentucky Hilltoppers booked their spot in the title game with a 64-60 win over UAB in the semi-finals. Charles Bassey led WKU with 22 points on 9 of 12 shooting with a pair of threes and a team-high 7 rebounds with a pair of steals and 4 blocks while Dayvion McKnight added 13 points with a team-high 9 assists, 3 steals and a pair of blocks as the only other double-digit scorer for Western Kentucky in the victory. Taveion Hollingsworth added 7 points with 6 rebounds as well in the victory for the Hilltoppers.

The North Texas Mean Green punched their ticket to the championship thanks to a 54-48 win over Louisiana Tech in the semi-finals. Javion Hamlet led the Mean Green with 18 points6 rebounds and 5 assists while Mardrez McBride added 11 points with 3 threes and Thomas Bell and Zachary Simmons each had 10 points to cap off the scoring in double figures for North Texas in the winning effort. Bell added 6 rebounds of his own while Simmons shot 5 of 7 from the floor with 5 rebounds and a pair of steals. James Reese also added 5 rebounds and 3 assists of his own in the victory for North Texas.

North Texas is 4-0 ATS in their last 4 neutral site games and 6-2-1 ATS in their last 9 games overall while the under is 7-1 in their last 8 games following a win. Western Kentucky is 4-1 ATS in their last 5 neutral site games while the under is 4-1 in their last 5 games overall. The favorite is 6-2 ATS in the last 8 meetings between these two teams.

I can understand a slight shift towards North Texas as the Mean Green are outstanding defensively. However, I’m not sure I get a line move through zero to where now North Texas is favored. The key for North Texas is bringing teams down to their level as we’ve seen all tournament long that the Mean Green win with their defense. However Western Kentucky can win all kinds of games, defensive battles and offensive slugfests, as the Hilltoppers are just the more consistent team offensively. I think normally defense wins out, but between two teams that play good defense, the team with the better offense wins out here so I’ll back Western Kentucky in this spot.