New Mexico St. vs. Arkansas Bracket Prediction: March Madness Odds
The Aggies face No. 4 Arkansas on Saturday with the Razorbacks at -6.5 on the college basketball odds.
New Mexico St. vs. Arkansas NCAA Tournament Point Spread and Betting
The winner of this West Region game between No. 12 New Mexico State and No. 4 Arkansas from Buffalo will face either No. 1 Gonzaga or No. 9 Memphis in the Sweet 16 next week in San Francisco.
With New Mexico State’s win Thursday, at least one No. 12 seed has upset a No. 5 in the first round of 32 of the past 37 NCAA Tournaments. A total of 22 No. 12 seeds have reached the Sweet 16 in that span and two the Elite Eight, but a 12 has never gone further than that. Considering a wager on Arkansas at +4800 to win the national championship? A No. 4 seed has done so just once: Arizona in 1997.
New Mexico State and Arkansas haven’t played since 1998. To win the West, the Aggies are +9840 and the Razorbacks +845.
New Mexico St. Aggies (12)
WAC champion New Mexico State (27-6) was a 6-point underdog Thursday against No. 5 UConn, which had a huge fan advantage in Buffalo, but the Aggies essentially led throughout in a 70-63 upset for the school’s first Big Dance win since 1993 (which technically was vacated). WAC Player of the Year Teddy Allen was magnificent with 37 points, his second-highest scoring total of the season as well as his fifth outing of 30 or more points. Allen was 13-for-13 from the free-throw line. No other player had more than nine points – think Arkansas may double-team Allen?
The upset victory represented the first-ever NCAA Tournament win by any current WAC school. It was NMSU’s first anywhere over a nationally ranked team since Dec. 23, 2017. The star is rising for coach Chris Jans, who has been linked to openings at Kansas State and Mississippi State. NMSU is 5-0 ATS in its past five as a dog.
Arkansas Razorbacks (4)
This writer predicted SEC team Arkansas (26-8) to beat No. 13 Vermont 72-68 in Round 1 … and the Hogs prevailed 75-71. Stanley Umude had 21 points while playing all 40 minutes, and All-SEC first-teamer JD Notae scored all 17 of his points in the second half. Jaylin Williams added 13 points and 10 rebounds for his 13th double-double of the season. Arkansas largely won the game at the free-throw line by going 20-for-25, including 16-for-18 in the second half. The Razorbacks committed only five turnovers, the fewest ever by the school in a Big Dance game and tying a season low. Arkansas has now won first-round games in consecutive NCAA Tournaments for the first time since 1998 (Nebraska) and ’99 (Siena). The Razorbacks are 11-3-1 ATS in their past 15 games.
