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NCAA Tournament: Nevada Wolf Pack vs. Arizona State Sun Devils Betting Preview

With the winner moving on to face TCU, Wednesday night features a battle of No. 11 seeds as the Nevada Wolf Pack (22-10) take on the Arizona State Sun Devils (22-12). This game will be played at thee University of Dayton Arena, with tipoff scheduled for 9:10 pm ET.

The Sun Devils are the slight favorite in this one. They are -128 to win, while the Wolf Pack’s moneyline sits at +106. The spread features Nevada as 2.5-point underdogs (-120), and the over/under is set at 133.5.

Nevada Trying To Snap Losing Streak

Despite finishing the season 22-10, the Wolf Pack are trending in the wrong direction. They have lost three straight entering Wednesday’s contest and have gone just 6-7 away from home. In the Mountain West Conference Tournament, they were bounced by lower-seeded San Jose State 81-77.

Defensively, Nevada ranks 84th overall, allowing opponents an average of just 67.3 points per game.

On the offensive side, the Wolf Pack rank 151st in the country, averaging 71.8 points per game. On the road, they average just 68.8. Senior guard Jarod Lucas leads Nevada in scoring, averaging 17.3 points and 2.7 rebounds per game.

The only other double-digit scorers for the Wolf Pack are Kenan Blackshear (14.4 points, 4.1 rebounds, 4.6 assists) and Will Baker (13.5 points, 5.1 rebounds).

Sun Devils Look To Bounce Back From Pac-12 Tourney Loss

After upsetting USC 77-72, the Arizona State Sun Devils were finally bounced from the Pac-12 Tournament 78-59 by intrastate rival Arizona. Now, the Sun Devils will look to regroup as they try to win a First Four matchup in the hope of squaring off with TCU on Friday.

Offensively, Arizona State ranks just 185th in the nation, averaging 70.3 points per game. They are led by senior guard Desmond Cambridge Jr. In 32 games, he is averaging 13.7 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 2.2 assists.

Aside from Cambridge, only one other player is averaging double digits for Arizona State in junior guard DJ Horne. He is averaging 12.1 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 2.4 assists per game.

Arizona State is a little better on defense. They rank 93rd in scoring defense, allowing opponents an average of 67.7 points per game.

Take Nevada And The Points

Both of these teams rely on solid defenses to succeed as their offenses are just mediocre at best. While Nevada has struggled as of late, it isn’t too long ago that they were prospering.

In fact, before this 0-3 stretch to end the season, the Wolf Pack had gone 6-1. They will need their defense to pick up again if they have any chance of upsetting Arizona State in this one.

For the Sun Devils, they are 8-1-1 against the spread in their last 10 against Mountain West opponents, but they are 5-12 against the spread in their last 17 games overall.

With such similar styles between the two teams, it wouldn’t be surprising to see this one stay low scoring and for the game to remain tight throughout. For that reason, take Nevada to bounce back from their poor play as of late to at least cover the 2.5-point spread (-120) in this one.

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