In Tuesday night’s college hoops action, the 7th-ranked Texas A&M Aggies look to extend their win streak to six against the Mississippi State Bulldogs in a great SEC battle.
On the West Coast, expect the Houston Cougars to sweep their Arizona road trip with ease as they take on an Arizona State squad that should be moving on from the hot-headed Bobby Hurley.
While the Bruins should handle Minnesota at Pauley Pavilion, the Gophers should keep this game close, especially after a momentum-changing win at USC this weekend.
The Aggies head into Starkville on a five-game win streak behind an elite defensive stretch. After some close wins over South Carolina, Missouri, and Arkansas, this team is battle-tested and ready for a battle against the 21st-ranked Mississippi State Bulldogs.
I’m taking A&M to win due to the coaching of Buzz Williams and the guard play of veteran Wade Taylor IV. Taylor is playing the most efficient basketball of his four-year career with the Aggies and has them in prime position for a 2 or 3 seed in March Madness.
State is shooting it just 27.0% from beyond the arc over their last three. Look for the away squad to come away with a massive win here and possibly propel themselves into the 1-seed conversation with some help this week.
Bobby Hurley is an awful coach and Arizona State is in an extremely tough spot. This program has now lost five in a row, starting with a home loss to rival Arizona where Hurley lashed out in his press conference post-game.
Following that outing, they lost three extremely tight games and one blowout loss. This team is in ‘no-man’s-land’ in the Big 12 and due to face one of the best defenses in all of college basketball on a few days’ rest, watch out for a blowout in Tempe tonight.
J’Wan Roberts should dominate down low, and Houston should get hot again from beyond the arc (ranked 9th in the country in 3PT% but shot 29.4% against Arizona this weekend).
UCLA does not shoot the ball well enough to blow out a conference opponent at this point in the season. Although they have found some rhythm over the last month (8-1 since Jan 17), UCLA doesn’t tend to blow teams out and Minnesota is on a good run themselves, defeating USC in Los Angeles over the weekend.
Yes, the Gophers will finish the year towards the bottom of the conference but will put up a tough fight to end the season with their 5th year senior big Dawson Garcia playing some great ball. Garcia at 6’11 will take on a UCLA team that doesn’t have a ton of depth or power at the post position.
The Bruins allow 7.9 offensive boards per game, as Minnesota has grabbed 9.3 offensive boards over their last three. While I’m still taking UCLA to win this game and potentially get a top 25 ranking by next week, the Gophers should keep this game within arm's reach.