Panthers will avoid Pitt falls
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Pittsburgh (+1.5) over Mississippi State: Things haven’t gone so well for the Panthers since helping solidify the breakup of the Big East — karma? — but Jeff Capel has the former power back in the dance for the first time since 2016, bringing enough perimeter shooting to potentially parlay multiple wins out of the trip. The Bulldogs’ elite defense and snail’s tempo won’t bother the Panthers, who already topped similarly-styled Virginia and Northwestern earlier this season. And Pittsburgh’s suspect defense won’t be exploited by the worst 3-point shooting team in the nation. The Panthers’ third-leading scorer, Nelly Cummings, went for 20 points, six rebounds and six assists in Colgate’s near-upset of Wisconsin in last year’s NCAA Tournament.
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (-3.5) over Southeast Missouri State: When the Redhawks take the floor, 10 days will have passed since they won the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament as the fifth seed. The momentum that carried them to four wins in four days is gone. What remains is a team that was 15-16 before the unlikely run and had recently surrendered 105 points to the nation’s 337th-ranked offense (Lindenwood). The Islanders — who have won 12 of their past 13 games, covering in 10 contests — were in Dayton last year, but failed to capture their first tournament win after shooting 37 percent from the field and 9-for-19 from the free throw line. This year, they rank fifth in the nation in free throw percentage (79 percent) and they’ll get plenty of opportunities to pad their lead against an opponent that is married to a frenetic pace. The nerves attached to the Redhawks’ first tournament game in 23 years won’t allow them to harness that energy for good.
This season: 10-7-3
2011-22 record: 319-283-9