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The NCAA Tournament’s Final Four isn’t until Saturday but there is college basketball action on Monday from the Basketball Classic as Coastal Carolina visits Sun Belt Conference rival South Alabama, which is favored on the NCAAB odds. The winner will face either Southern Utah or Fresno State in the final.

How to Bet Coastal Carolina at South Alabama NCAA Basketball Odds & TV Info

When: Monday, 8 PM ET
Where: Mitchell Center, Mobile, Ala.
TV: None national
Stream: ESPN+
Radio: Tunein.com
Opening NCAAB Lines: South Alabama -2.5 (total 138)

Last Meeting

The teams were supposed to play twice this season, each hosting, but the game at South Alabama on Jan. 8 was canceled due to COVID. They met at Coastal Carolina on Feb. 17 and South Alabama won 71-68. Kayo Goncalves hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer. Jay Jay Chandler scored 17 points for South Alabama that included a three-point play that tied the game at 68. Diante Smith and Charles Manning Jr. added 15 points each for South Alabama. Goncalves finished with nine points. Javon Franklin had 14 rebounds. Rudi Williams had 24 points and five steals for the Chanticleers. CCU owns an 8-7 lead in the all-time series, but the Jags have won each of the past three meetings.

Why Bet on Coastal Carolina?

Coastal advanced with an 84-68 win over Florida Gulf Coast last Monday. Rudi Williams scored 24 points and Essam Mostafa added 23 points as Coastal used a late run to pull away.

Williams and Mostafa were just two of Coastal’s five players in double figures, as the Chanticleers used an 18-2 run in the closing minutes to advance to the semifinal round of the tournament and improve to 18-13 on the season. Vince Cole added 15 points for the Chants, while Wilfried Likayi and Ebrima Dibba had 10 points apiece.

Mostafa, a 6-foot-10 sophomore, played his best game of the season in collecting his 13th double-double and meeting the challenge of playing against Kevin Samuel, a former Big-12 defensive player of the year while at TCU. Mostafa led Coastal with 14 rebounds. Likayi collected 12 for his third double -double of the year.

“That was one of the best games we played all year,” said a pleased Coastal head coach Cliff Ellis. “Essam (Mostafa) met the challenge tonight and had a great game. That was just a good win for us. And now we’re two wins away from a postseason championship. That’s a good thing.”

The Chants’ play during the Classic has mirrored the regular season as the top four players have also led CCU in postseason play. Williams has shot 52 percent from the field and 50 percent on his three-point field goals on his way to averaging 21.0 points per game. He also has averaged 4.5 assists, 3.5 rebounds, and 2.0 steals over the two games.

Cole has not shot the ball as well as he did in the regular season, but he has still averaged 15.0 points per game. Dibba is averaging 10.5 points per game and has continued to play all aspects of the game at a high level. He is averaging 6.0 rebounds, 6.0 assists, and 2.0 steals during the Classic games.

Mostafa has averaged a double-double during the postseason, averaging 13.0 points and 10.5 rebounds per outing, while shooting over 52 percent from the field.

Why Bet on South Alabama?

USA (21-11) advanced with an 83-79 win over USC Upstate last Monday. Javon Franklin scored a career-high 28 points on 10-of-12 shooting and pulled down a team-high seven rebounds. Tyrell Jones finished with 13 points and dished out a career-high six assists, while Kayo Goncalves and Marshall Kearing each added 10 points to lead the Jaguars. Franklin is averaging 22 points and 10.5 boards in two games at The Basketball Classic.

USA improved to 15-2 at home this season. The 15 wins are the second-most in Mitchell Center history, only trailing the 2007-08 team’s 17 wins. South Alabama shot 16-for-28 (57 percent) in the first half. The Jags are now 12-1 when shooting at least 50 percent from the field in the first half. South Alabama forced USC Upstate to turn the ball over 14 times. The Jaguars are 16-4 this season when an opponent commits more turnovers.

The Jags went 30-for-51 (58.8 percent) for the game and improved to 9-0 this season when shooting over 50 percent for the game. South Alabama’s 21 wins are the most for the program since the 2007-08 team won 26 games. The Jags have won at least 20 games in two out of four seasons under Richie Riley.

South has now won two games this postseason for just the second time in program history. The Jaguars won two games in the 1981 NIT. – South Alabama finished the regular season ranked in the top 3 of the Sun Belt in scoring offense (71.4), scoring margin (8.2), field-goal percentage (45.8), field-goal percentage defense (40.2), blocked shots per game, three-point field goal defense (31.3) and turnover margin (2.1).

Coastal Carolina’s Cliff Ellis has a deep connection to South Alabama. Ellis was South’s head coach from 1975-84 and is the second-winningest head coach in Jag history with 171 wins. Riley coached under Ellis at Coastal Carolina from 2009-11 as an assistant.