Oakland (14) vs. NC State (11) Bracket Prediction: March Madness Odds
The Wolfpack are 6-point favourites on the college basketball odds.
Oakland vs. NC State NCAA Tournament Point Spread and Betting
There are a handful of teams the winner of this game could face in the Sweet 16 next week in Dallas, but if chalk held it would be No. 2 Marquette.
Oakland is the only Horizon League team in the NCAA Tournament as the regular season and conference tournament champion. The only coach the Golden Grizzlies have known since they joined Division I has been Greg Kampe, who has been there since way 1984-85 (well before the school’s move to DI). He’s the longest-tenured coach in the country. It’s the fourth all-time Dance appearance for the program. It did win a game once previously in the 2005 play-in against fellow 16 seed Alabama A&M but then was routed by North Carolina.
NC State last week became just the fifth school to ever win five games in five days to win a conference tournament as the Wolfpack were ACC tourney champs – they are not in this event without that. They won a game in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2015 (also in Pittsburgh), which was also the Pack’s last trip to the Sweet 16.
To win the South, Oakland is now +5000 and NC State +1000. It’s the first meeting between the programs. We are guaranteed a double-digit seed in the Sweet 16 for a 16th straight tournament.
Oakland Golden Grizzlies
No. 14 Oakland was a 13-point underdog in Round 1 against powerhouse Kentucky but won 80-76 behind Horizon League Sixth Man of the Year and Division II transfer Jack Gohlke, who put on a three-point shooting clinic by hitting 10-for-20 from deep and scoring a career-high 32 points. He didn’t attempt a two-point shot. Gohlke became the fifth player in Big Dance history to hit at least 10 three-pointers (record is 11 by Loyola Marymount’s Jeff Fryer in 1990), and his 32 points were the most ever against a John Calipari-coached team in this event. Horizon League Player of the Year Trey Townsend had a double-double of 17 points and 12 rebounds. Kentucky should have dominated on the boards but lost by one. UK entered averaging 89.4 points per game, No. 2 in the nation. Oakland didn’t play an ACC team this season.
NC State Wolfpack
Teams that won five games in five days to win their conference tournament are now 7-0 all-time in the NCAA Tournament as UConn went 6-0 on the way to the national title in 2011. No. 11 NC State was a 5-point underdog against No. 6 Texas Tech in Round 1 but rolled 80-67. The Wolfpack used a 10-0 run towards the end of the first half to take the lead and never looked back. Ben Middlebrooks finished with a career-high 21 points and Mohamed Diarra a career-high 17. After scoring in double figures in each game of the ACC Tournament, Michael O’Connell was held scoreless but did have six assists and zero turnovers in 37 minutes. Incidentally, the only other time NC State won a Tournament game as an 11 seed, it made the Sweet 16 that season (2012).
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