Texas (30-6) -3, o/u 133 vs. LSU (26-8), 4:40 p.m. Eastern, CBS
by Ultimatecapper Staff
The LSU Tigers, fresh off a bracket-shattering upset of the top-seeded Duke Blue Devils, next take on the Texas Longhorns in the Atlanta regional final at the Georgia Dome Saturday.
Texas tied Kansas for first place in the Big 12's regular season, then lost to the Jayhawks in the conference tournament title game.
The Tigers won the SEC West Division this season with a record of 14-2, then lost to Florida in the SEC tournament.
Texas is the lone Big 12 teams still alive in the NCAA tournament.
Texas survived Penn in the first round last week, winning 60-52 as 14-point chalk, then routed North Carolina State 75-54 as eight-point favorites. Thursday night, the Longhorns won a thriller vs. West Virginia, blowing a late lead but hitting a scrambling 3-pointer at the buzzer for the 74-71 victory.
LSU had to come from behind at the half to beat Iona in the first round, and won on a 3-pointer in the last few seconds vs. Texas A&M. But they led most of the way against Duke Thursday night, and wound up holding the Blue Devils to a season-low 54 points.
The Tigers have won ten of their last 11 games.
On the season, Texas outrebounds opponents by over 10 per game, and the Texas defense ranked in the top five in Division 1 by holding opponents to just 38% shooting from the floor this season, 32% from 3-point range.
Texas is 14-16 against the spread this season, 13-15 ats as favorites.
LSU is 14-14 against the spread this season, but 7-2 ats as underdogs, 2-1 ats when getting six or more points and 5-5 straight up when getting any points.
LSU shoots 47% from the floor on the season, 34% from 3-point range and 71% from the line. The Tigers also hold opponents to 41% shooting from the field and own a healthy +8.4 rebounds per game margin.
Outside of the SEC this season, LSU beat West Virginia and lost to Connecticut by one, to Ohio State by two and to Northern Iowa.
The Longhorns' defeats have come to Duke by 31, to Tennessee by 17, to Oklahoma, Oklahoma State by 21, Texas A&M on a buzzer-beater and to Kansas by 12.
The Sagarin PREDICTOR ratings at usatoday.com rank Texas #2 at 93.5, LSU #12 at 88.2. The RPI at NCAAsports.com ranks the Longhorns 8th, the Tigers #13.
The under is 20-10 in LSU games, 16-13 in Texas games.
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The Ultimatecapper Pick: We are a little worried that LSU may in a letdown spot here but we like the pieces they have in place to move on to the next level. It's LSU or pass for us.
