North Carolina Central Vs UC Davis Lines, Free Pick & TV Info

If you’re looking to get your 2017 March Madness NCAA Tournament betting campaign off to a positive start, then you’re going to be able to do just that when the UC Davis Aggies and North Carolina Central Eagles square off in a First Four matchup on Wednesday night. While the winner of this affair is almost assuredly looking at getting bounced out of the tournament in the next round against No. 1 Kansas, let’s find out which longshot championship hopeful is offering the most NCAA basketball odds value in this first round matchup.

In Depth Analysis On The Eagles Vs Aggies Lines, Free Pick & TV Info

The Eagles and Aggies will square off at 6:40 PM ET with this matchup airing live on TruTV. NCA Central is a 3.5-point favorite. When: Wednesday, March 15, 2017 at 6:40 PM ET Where: University of Dayton Arena, Dayton, Ohio TV: truTV Live Stream: NCAA Live NCAAB Odds: NC Central -3.5    

Why Bet The NC Central Eagles at -3.5

North Carolina Central (25-8 SU, 6-0 ATS) has won three consecutive games and seven of their last 10 games overall and come into this matchup off a 67-59 victory of the Norfolk State in the MEAC conference tournament title game this past Saturday. North Carolina Central pulled away in the second half thanks to a 19-0 run that put the Eagles up 62-46 lead with 3:30 remaining. North Carolina Central is averaging a solid 75.1 points per game (125th) on 45.7 percent shooting from the field (103rd) while holding the opposition to just 63.4 points per game to rank a stellar 22nd nationally in  points allowed while limiting their opponents to just 39.1 percent shooting from beyond the arc (10th). North Carolina Central has just two double digit scorers in guard Patrick Cole (19.5 ppg, 7.0 rpg, 5.7 apg) and backcourt mate Dajuan Graf (14.3 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 5.2 apg, 1.2 spg).

Why Bet The UC Davis Aggies at +3.5

UC Davis (22-12 SU, 17-12-1 ATS) has won three in a row and seven of their last 10 games and come into this contest off a thrilling 50-47 win over the UC Irvine Anteaters in the Big West Championship on Saturday. UC Davis went on a 13-5 run over the final 4:09 to get the win while holding UC Irvine to just 38.0 percent shooting from the field and 25.0 percent (3-for-12) from downtown. Brynton Lemar scored a team-high 20 points for the Aggies in the win. This season, UC Davis is averaging 70.5 points per game (240th) on 43.7 percent shooting from the field (216th) while limiting the opposition to 68.9 points per game (94th) on 42.4 percent shooting from the field (104th). UC Davis has three double-digit scorers in Brynton Lemar (16.1 ppg), Chima Moneke (14.4 ppg, 9.4 rpg, 1.5 bpg) and Siler Schneider (10.5 ppg).

Expert Pick & Final Score Prediction

There’s a reason why NC Central is a slight favorite in this contest and why 58 percent of the betting public likes the Aggies to cover the spread as slight favorites and it’s because the Eagles are the better team at both ends of the floor. NC Central averages almost five points per game more than UC Davis while also allowing almost five fewer points per game defensively. While the Aggies have gone 5-3 in eight neutral site games, NC Central is 3-0 in three neutral site games this season.  The Eagles are also 5-0 ATS in their last five non-conference games and 8-3 ATS in their last 7 games following an ATS win while the UC Davis has gone 1-4 ATS in their last 5 games as an underdog and an identical 1-4 ATS in their last 5 neutral site games as an underdog. The North Carolina Central Eagles won their three MEAC tournament games by an average of 23.7 points per game and are the easy pick to roll over a UC Davis ball club that allows almost as many points as they average. North Carolina Central wins and covers the slight spread!

My final score prediction is NC Central 75 UC Davis 69