Wake Forest Demon Deacons vs. Texas Longhorns

Wake Forest Demon Deacons vs. Texas Longhorns

2010-03-19

From www.sportsbook.com the line has the Texas Longhorns as the favorites by 5 points and the over under for the game is 146.

The eighth-seeded Texas Longhorns will play the ninth-seeded Wake Forest Demon Deacons at 9:35 p.m. eastern time on Thursday in the second evening game at the New Orleans Arena, New Orleans, LA in the East Region of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament.

The winner of this game will meet either No. 1 Kentucky or No. 16 East Tennessee State, so pretty much they will meet the Wildcats in the second round which starts on Saturday.

Texas enters the NCAA Tournament with a record of 24-9 overall. The Longhorns went 9-7 in the Big 12 to finish sixth in the conference standings. While Wake Forest enters the NCAA Tournament with a 19-10 overall record. The Demon Deacons, who boast six wins against RPI Top 50 teams, went 9-7 in the ACC to finish fifth in the conference standings.

Keys to a Texas Longhorn Win

Texas has a +6.8 rebound margin (42.2-35.4) entering the NCAA Tournament. UT has outrebounded its opponent in 24 of its first 33 contests (20-4 mark in those games), including 13 games by double-digit margins.

Texas Longhorns guards, including swingman Jordan Hamilton, need to make some shots. The Longhorn guards converted just 11 of 36 attempts in their last game, a loss to Baylor. The guards made 6 of 23 shots against Iowa State and the Longhorns still won.

But frontcourt players Gary Johnson, Dexter Pittman and Damion James combined for 59 points, each with at least 15. However, production like that for those three players in one game is not that common.

The Texas bench has also outscored its opponents bench in 27 of the first 33 games.

Texas has held their opponents to an average of 69.7 points per game on a combined 40.2% FG shooting, including a 185-of-576 (.321) mark from three-point range.

If they can keep up their production they will have a good shot at not only winning, but covering the 5 point spread, seen at www.sportsbook.com.

Keys to a Wake Forest Demon Deacon Win

Wake Forest ranks third in the ACC and eighth in the country in field goal percentage defense (.383). The Deacons also rank second in the ACC and eighth nationally in 3-point field goal defense (.289). Wake Forest led the ACC in field goal defense (.394) in conference-games only. Wake is fourth in the ACC and 23rd nationally in blocks. However Wake Forest has its issues on offense: poor shooting, especially from three-point range, and too many turnovers. Their only offensive bright spot is Aminu. He has 18 double doubles in points and rebounds this season, which ranks 10th in the country. Hopefully Aminu can bounce back from his scoreless game in early March against Florida State, without him the Demon Deacons have no chance.

With both teams playing good defense a good bet is the under at 146 points at www.sportsbook.com.

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http://www.sport-insight.com/images/ncaaf/Wake%20Forest%20Demon%20Deacons.gif – Wake Forest Demon Deacon

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