The Abilene Christian Wildcats (23-4) take on the Texas Longhorns (19-7) in an NCAA East Region First Round game Saturday night with a 9:50 p.m. ET tip-off at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.
Below, we look at the early March Madness Round 1 Texas-Abilene Christian odds and lines. Will one of these teams end up as this year’s National Champion? Don’t forget to check out all of the teams’ March Madness odds.
Abilene Christian — the No. 14 seed in the East — won 12 of its last 13 games and enters the national tournament as champions of the Southland Conference. The Wildcat starting lineup features three players under 6-foot-1, but ACU makes up for its lack of size with a tenacious defense.
The Wildcats have held opponents to just 60.5 points per game (seventh NCAA-I). ACU is adept at turning steals into breakaway buckets at the other end.
The Wildcats gave South Region sixth-seeded Texas Tech nearly everything it could handle in a Dec. 9 game in Lubbock, Texas. Abilene Christian led that game by one point with under 10 minutes remaining before falling 51-44.
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The third-seeded Longhorns won the Big 12 Tournament after going 11-6 in conference play. Texas has come on lately after enduring some shooting woes in February. UT is 5-0 since March 2; all five games were on the road or on neutral courts. Texas is 5-0 at neutral sites this season.
Texas hasn’t won a first-round game since 2015. Six-foot-10 F Jericho Sims scored 21 points in UT’s last game, a 91-86 win over Oklahoma State. Sims is one of six Longhorns averaging more than 8 points per game.
Texas vs. Abilene Christian: Odds, spread and lines
Odds via BetMGM; access USA TODAY Sports’ betting odds for a full list. Lines last updated Tuesday at 9:30 a.m. ET.
- Money line: Texas -450 (bet $450 to win $100) | Abilene Christian +333 (bet $100 to win $333)
- Against the spread/ATS: Texas -8.5 (-110) | Abilene Christian +8.5 (-110)
- Over/Under: 139.5 (O: -110 | U: -110)
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