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The first round of March Madness was filled with excitement and quite a few thrilling upsets. Thursday’s winners will play second-round games Saturday, while Friday’s winners will go at it Sunday.
Below, we break down Tipico Sportsbook’s NCAA Tournament odds and lines and list Saturday’s best second-round upset bets to cash in on among SportbookWire’s expert college basketball picks and predictions.
There are a couple of unfamiliar faces still dancing with 13th-seeded Furman and No. 15 seed Princeton pulling off impressive upsets. Meanwhile, Duke, which is ranked 16th in the USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll, has won 10 straight games after defeating Oral Roberts Thursday.
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Saturday’s NCAA Tournament upset picks
Odds provided by Tipico Sportsbook; access USA TODAY Sports Scores and Sports Betting Odds hub for a full list. Lines last updated at 4:53 a.m. ET. All game times ET; ML = moneyline.
PRINCETON +6.5 (-110) vs. Missouri – 6:10 p.m.
Princeton impressively took down 2nd-seeded Arizona in the first round by limiting the Wildcats to only 55 points in a 4-point win. Could the Tigers, who were 15-point underdogs, advance again with another strong defensive performance?
Missouri averages 79.4 points per game (PPG) to rank 25th in the nation (according to NCAA.com), Arizona entered the NCAA Tournament 5th in the country at 82.7 points per game before facing Princeton. The Tigers are also a plus-6 in rebound margin (tied for 10th in the nation).
If Princeton can make it an ugly, low-scoring game (again) Saturday, it can certainly cover the spread or even beat a Missouri squad that is 346th in rebounds per game (30.33 per game).
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AUBURN +5.5 (-110) vs. Houston – 7:10 p.m.
Houston was largely uninspiring in its 63-52 win over Northern Kentucky in the first round as the Cougars were up only 5 points with a little under 4 minutes remaining — Houston was a 19.5-point favorite.
Cougars star G Marcus Sasser is battling a groin injury and only played 14 minutes — and scored 5 points — before exiting in the first half due to re-aggravating the injury. With their leading scorer out (16.7 PPG), the Cougars struggled to generate much offense, especially from beyond the 3-point line where they made only 4 of 16 attempts.
On the other hand, Auburn found a way to outscore a high-scoring Iowa team Thursday to win 83-75 as a 2.5-point favorite.
Houston is also 1-6 ATS in its last 7 games. This game should be closer than some expect.
PENN STATE ML (+200) vs. Texas – 7:45 p.m.
The 10th-seeded Nittany Lions may have the perfect recipe to upset the 2nd-seeded Longhorns. Texas relies on forcing its opponents into making mistakes (16.21 turnovers forced per game to rank 16th), while Penn State turns the ball over the 4th-fewest times per game (9.0).
Besides limiting mental errors, the Nittany Lions record 10.4 3-pointers per game (tied for 5th most) and convert them at a 38.52% clip (13th). After cruising to a win over No. 7 seed Texas A&M in the first round, Penn State could make things interesting in its upcoming bout with Texas.
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For sports betting picks and tips, check out SportsbookWire.com and BetFTW. Plus, try out the USA TODAY Parlay Calculator and please gamble responsibly.
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