Nevada vs. Arizona State First Four Prediction: March Madness Odds
The final game of the First Four goes ahead Wednesday night at UD Arena in Dayton, Ohio between two No. 11 seeds. The Nevada Wolf Pack and Arizona State Sun Devils will face off for a spot in the final 64-team March Madness NCAA Tournament bracket.
Arizona State opened as 2-point favourites to win on the college basketball odds.
Nevada vs. Arizona State NCAA Tournament Point Spread and Betting
The winner of this game will face the No. 6 TCU Horned Frogs in the first round of the tournament on Friday in Denver.
This will be Nevada’s 10th appearance in the NCAA Tournament and first in four years. They have a 6-9 all-time record in the tournament, making it as far as the Sweet 16 in 2004 and 2018. The Wolf Pack’s last tournament appearance was in 2019 as a seventh seed when they fell to the 10th seeded Florida Gators in the first round.
The Sun Devils are making their 16th tournament appearance (ASU’s 1995 appearance in the Sweet 16 was vacated by the NCAA). Their combined tournament record is 13-16 and they have made it as far as the Elite Eight three times, although not since 1975. In ASU’s last tournament appearance in 2019 as an 11-seed, the Sun Devils beat fellow 11-seed St. John’s in the First Four and lost to No. 6 Buffalo in the first round.
These teams have split four meetings since 2002, but haven’t faced off since 2018.
Nevada Wolf Pack (11)
The Wolf Pack (22-10) finished fourth in the Mountain West Conference and were knocked out in the quarterfinals of the MWC Tournament. The big concern for Nevada is the three-game losing streak they are riding. Their last win was against Fresno State on February 25. Since then, Nevada has dropped decisions to Wyoming, UNLV and San Jose State, the only team of the three to even qualify for the NCAA Tournament.
Despite a mediocre season in terms of their win-loss record, Nevada has actually been one of the best D-1 free throw teams this year. They’re shooting 79.1 per cent from the line, good for fourth-highest in the country an they average 17.2 free throws per game, ranking ninth. Senior guard Jarod Lucas is averaging a team-high 17.3 points per game.
The Wolf Pack are 8-3-1 against the spread in their last 12 games against Pac-12 teams.
Arizona State Sun Devils (11)
Arizona State (22-9) tied for fifth in the Pac-12 standings. They made it as far as the semifinals of the Pac-12 Tournament before falling to rival Arizona. One issue for this team has been poor shooting. The Sun Devils are shooting just 43.1 per cent from the field, which ranks an abysmal 317th in the country. They’re also hitting just 31.4 per cent of shots from beyond the arc, ranking 312th in D-1.
On the flip side, ASU is one of the best defensive teams in the country. They allow an average of just 95.2 points per 100 possessions according to KenPom, which ranks 28th in the nation. They are also holding opponents to a 39.8 shooting percentage from the field, which ranks 15th in the country. Senior guard Desmond Cambridge Jr. was named to the all-Pac-12 second team after leading the Sun Devils in both points (13.7) and steals (1.8).
Arizona State is 8-1-1 in their last 10 games against Mountain West opponents.
