(2) Marquette vs. (11) NC State: Betting Tips, Prediction, and Betting Odds

Marquette Golden will take on red hot NC State in the Sweet 16 on Friday. The Wolfpack are the darlings of the Sweet 16. DJ Burns and co. have won 7 games in a row and captured the hearts of America. Can their Cinderella run continue to the Elite Eight, or will Tyler Kolek and the Golden Eagles send them packing?

Aside from UConn, NC State is probably the hottest team in the country. They stunned everyone by winning the ACC Tournament, then rattled off two wins in the Big Dance over Texas Tech and Oakland. They are led by guard DJ Horne who averages 17 ppg and can let it fly from deep. They also have big DJ Burns down low who can score, rebound, and facilitate. Their 199th ranked scoring defense might be in trouble, though, against Marquette’s high powered offense.

The Golden Eagles come into this game after winning two high scoring affairs with Western Kentucky and Colorado. Tyler Kolek has been the X-factor for them in this tournament. The senior guard is averaging 15 points and 11 assists in two games in the tournament. They also have a big man of their own in Oso Ighodaro. The 6’ 11” senior has the ability to pull his matchup away from the basket and create lanes for Marquette’s scorers.

Marquette -6.5 is available at the time of publishing. Playable at that number.

NC State’s magical season should come to an end here. Marquette just has too many weapons. Kolek might be the best overall player in this tournament and Ighodaro could be a matchup nightmare for DJ Burns. He had a similar matchup to Burns in Colorado’s Eddie Lampkin on Sunday. Ighodaro was able to use his superior quickness and athleticism to create problems for Lampkin. He should be able to do the same to Burns here.

Kolek had his way with WKU and Colorado. The Wolfpack barely rank in the top 200 in scoring defense so they shouldn’t pose too much of a threat to the fully healthy Kolek. The Golden Eagles should be able to win this one comfortably.

Over 151.5 Total Points is available at the time of publishing. Playable at that number.

Marquette’s offense has been covered plenty, however their defense can leave a lot to be desired. They have the 106th ranked scoring defense and have given up 80 points in both tournament games. The Wolfpack’s offense has shown they can score. They have put up 80 points in four games of their seven game winning streak. Both teams rank in the top 60 in the country in fastbreak scoring, so they both like to run. There should be plenty of points in this one.

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