Pinnacle u139 -109  BET365  u139 -110 Sportsinteraction u139 -115 888Sport u139 -110

In Wells Fargo Arena, Des Moines, IA - Round 2

Streaming: CBS

Texas/Penn St under 139

7:45 PM EST. In its first round matchup over Texas A&M, Penn State shot a scorching 48.2% from the floor, 59.1% from the land of plenty and 82% from the charity stripe. The chances of Penn State repeating numbers like that are slim. It’s also worth noting that Penn State’s offense is that it ranks 361st (aka second last in the entire country) in offensive rebounding percentage, thus they are heavily reliant on those shots falling. There will be very few second chance points for the underdog here.

Defensively, Penn State does not allow teams to get to the rim, which is another fact that bodes well for the under here. The Nittany Lions only allow 25% of their opponents’ field goals at the rim, which is the best mark in the country. That strongly suggests that Texas, too, will be reliant on jumpers. To take that a step further, the Nittany Lions are outstanding at taking care of the rock. Rarely do they turn it over, which is something that is emphasized by their coaches. They spend endless hours practicing “not turning it over”. Penn State doesn’t take chances, they force teams into bad shots and defend both the rim and three-point line at an elite level.

Meanwhile Texas just held one of the best shooting mid-majors in the country to 61 points when they defeated Colgate 81-61. Even though Texas shot a blistering 13-23 from beyond the arc, that’s not typical. You see, the Longhorns are 253rd in three-point rate and are only hitting at a 34.6% clip on the season. Against a strong Penn State defense, the Longhorns figure to be below its season average.

What we have here are two elite defenses. What we also have here are two first round winners that scored 81 and 76 points respectively in the first round to set up the inflated total you see here.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------