NCAA Betting: UNLV vs Northern Iowa

The Northern Iowa Panthers don’t play a sexy style of basketball, they rely on their strong defense to win games and it’s worked well so far, as they limit their opponents to 54.3 points a game. They will look to slow down the run and gun UNLV Runnin Rebels who are averaging 73.3.

In this clash of styles the college basketball odds makers list the high scoring Runnin Rebels as -1½ point favorites over the Panthers.

NCAA Tournament Odds:

Northern Iowa Panthers +1½
UNLV Runnin Rebels -1½

Game Time: 7:10 EST

TV: CBS

When you look at the Northern Iowa Panthers, nothing indicates this is a 28-4 basketball team other than their win loss record. They don’t have any big names, they don’t have a future NBA star on their roster but they kept winning this year. Their main detractors will point to their conference; running up an impressive record in the Missouri Valley Conference isn’t going to earn a high rank from the selection committee, hence the ninth seed. However, they have consistently exceeded the odds makers’ expectations as they come into the tournament with a 20-11 record against the spread.

The UNLV Runnin Rebels are a product of great coaching, coach Lon Kruger always puts UNLV in a position to win by drawing up the right plays and controlling the game. Kruger has a streak of 5 straight first round tournament wins, 3 with Illinois and 2 with UNLV and the Runnin Rebels will look to make it 3 of their own. The key benefactor of Kruger’s coaching style has been guard Tre'Von Willis, Willis leads UNLV with 17.3 points a game on 48.4% shooting.

UNLV was almost as good to bettors as Northern Iowa, going 19-12 against the spread. Coming into the tournament UNLV has won six of their past 7 but only 4-3 ATS.

The interesting number to look at will be the game total, UNLV love to run up the score, while Northern Iowa will do their best to slow the game to a near standstill. If the Panthers are able to dictate the pace this game will face well under the game total but Lon Kruger’s boys will score enough to force the Panthers to open it up. If you like the Panthers, take the under also but if you’re like me and plan to take the Runnin Rebels, parlay it with the over.

College Basketball pick: UNLV Runnin Rebels -1½