Wild West Bracket 2nd Round - (4) Washington vs. (5) Purdue

NCAA Basketball Sports Betting

Washington Huskies (26-8 SU, 18-11-1 ATS)

NCAA Tournament (@ Portland)
Saturday, March 21

BetUS NCAA Basketball Sports Betting Odds:  PICK'EM, Total 140

Here are some of the NCAA basketball sports betting trends as they relate to this matchup:

• PUR has won nine of its last 11 games SU
• PUR has covered three of its last nine games
• WASH has won seven of its last eight games SU
• WASH has covered three of its last four games
• WASH has played seven of its last ten games OVER the total
  
  

Washington got the result it wanted on Thursday, but it didn't happen the way they thought it might. Jon Brockman had 14 rebounds but only ten points. Isaiah Thomas was just 3-of-13 from the field. His backcourt mate, Justin Dentmon, made just one field goal. Ordinarily you'd have thought it would spell doom for the Huskies, especially with Jarvis Varnado, Mississippi State's intimidator, standing in the lane.

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That was not the case as Quincy Pondexter poured in 23 points and Varnado, who did have five blocked shots, wound up in foul trouble. Washington got off to an eleven-point lead and never relinquished it, rolling to a 71-58 win. The Huskies are a very good offensive rebounding team and looked like it, pulling down 14 caroms on the offensive end.

Purdue struggled more with its first-round foe, Northern Iowa, almost blowing a 14-point lead before surviving by a 61-56 score. Some of the Boilermakers are banged up, but they did their job on the defensive end, holding UNI to just 37% shooting. That's the point we want to make here. Chris Kramer may not score very much; in fact, he's made just one field goal in each of his last three games. But he's just the guy to neutralize the advances of Thomas, the freshman point guard who has not always demonstrated the best shot selection (42%, and just 29% from the arc).

Brockman will be a tough nut to crack, but remember that Purdue plays in the rugged Big Ten and held opponents to less than 39% shooting on the year. JaJuan Johnson has emerged as someone on the front line for U-Dub to worry about (13.2 ppg, 2.1 bpg) and Robbie Hummel, who leads the team with 39% from beyond the arc, is one of the nation's more versatile players. There's some size coming off the bench as well, in the persons of Nemanja Calassan (6'9", 247) and Marcus Green (6'6", 225).

The Huskies have a great scoring trio, but Kramer, who is the best defender in the Big Ten, can reduce that to two. We respect Purdue's balance and its stop capabilities, and we'll give them a slight nod in this pick'em situation in the BetUS Sportsbook.

JAY'S PLAY:  PURDUE (+1.5)
(Graded on a scale of 1-4 stars)