Indiana vs. Saint Mary’s Bracket Prediction: March Madness Odds
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Nik Kowalski
The No. 12 Hoosiers eliminated Wyoming Tuesday night by a score of 66-58, clinching their first tournament bid since 2016. Saint Mary’s finished the season 25-7 and came second in the West Coast Conference season and tournament to Gonzaga, the tournament’s top seed. Indiana finished 20-13 but made a semifinal run in the Big 12.
Tip-off at Fiserv Forum goes at 7:20 p.m. EDT, with St. Mary’s a three-point favourite and the over-under at 126.5 on the NCAAB odds.
Indiana vs. Saint Mary’s NCAA Tournament Point Spread and Betting
Covering the spread is something both these teams do well — the Hoosiers are 20-14 ATS this season while Saint Mary’s is 19-10-2. Indiana covered Tuesday to become 5-0 ATS in their last five neutral site games.
The over is 7-3 in Indiana’s last 10 contests, but went under on Tuesday but a sizable amount after a slow start and 55-point first half. Indiana isn’t the strongest shooting team either, ranking 236th in free throwing shooting and 178th in three-point shooting. The over-under was exactly .500 in St Mary’s 31 games this season, going 15-5-1.
Indiana Hoosiers
Sophomore Trayce Jackson-Davis picked up Tuesday where he left off in the Big 12 tournament, scoring a game-high 29 points and collecting nine rebounds in Indiana’s win over Wyoming. Jackson-Davis shot 10 for 16 from the field in the dub and has now scored 105 points over his last four appearances. During the season, Jackson-Davis lead the Hoosiers with 18.1 points and 8.2 rebounds per game.
Point guard Xavier Johnson dished out seven assists and added 10 points. Johnson was second on the team with 12.3 points per game this year and led his squad with five assists a night.
The Hoosiers shot just two of 13 from deep, but managed to escape a poor shooting night by forcing 19 Wyoming turnovers and out-rebounding them 39-30.
Saint Mary’s Gaels
Saint Mary’s does many fundamental things well — they don’t turn the ball over, knock down free throws, and don’t allow easy points. Plus, when the moment’s big they can bring it; the Gaels went 1-2 versus top-ranked Gonzaga this season with a 67-57 win coming back on February 26.
6’10 senior Matthias Tass is Saint Mary’s leading scorer and rebounder with 12.6 points and six rebounds per game. The Gaels are more of a complete squad though with four double-digit scorers and none over Tass’ 12.6 average. Senior guard Tommy Kuhse is another name to know. He’s second on the Gaels with 12 points a game and led them with 3.6 assists per outing.
IND
SMC