Taking down a No. 1 seed will be no easy task
Texas A&M won their first NCAA Tournament game since 2018 on Friday night, dismantling Nebraska 98-83 Friday night in Memphis. But there is little time to celebrate, as the 8 seed Aggies now move on to face the No. 1 seed Houston Cougars on Sunday night. Unsurprisingly, the Coogs open as the prohibitive favorite, favored* by 9 points according to DraftKings Sportsbook. The over/under on the game is set at 132.5, a low number which is likely primarily due to Houston being ranked the top defensive team in the country.
Houston was the Big 12 regular season champion, is the No. 1 team according to ESPN’s basketball power index and was ranked No. 1 in the AP Top 25 prior to losing in the Big 12 Tournament final last week. They advanced to the second round after an 86-46 throttling of 16 seed Longwood.
Suffice to say, winning this game will be a tall task for A&M, but the Ags seem to be playing their best bassketball at the right time. The two teams played in December, with Houston winning by four, though the Aggies were without Boots Radford (injury) and Manny Obaseki had not yet been inserted into the starting lineup (who has averaged 16.7 points over the last seven games). If the Aggies hope to pull off the upset, they’ll need to continue their recent offensive resurgence, having scored 80+ in each of their last five games. If they can manage to do that, a Sweet 16 game in Dallas awaits next week.
*Odds/lines are subject to change. T&Cs apply. See draftkings.com/sportsbook for details.