Check out our free Penn State vs Texas A&M pick and preview for this NCAA Basketball game in Des Moines. See who we like to win and cover the spread in this College Basketball matchup.

Penn State vs Texas A&M Pick & Preview: Thursday, March 16th Betting Odds

Nittany Lions vs Aggies Matchup at a Glance

  • Sport: NCAAB
  • Teams: Penn State Nittany Lions at Texas A&M Aggies
  • Where: Des Moines at Wells Fargo Arena (IA)
  • Date: Thursday, March 16th
  • Betting Odds: Penn State +2.5, PENNST +125 | TXAM -156 O/U 134.5

Nittany Lions Preview:

Penn State will take the floor against the Aggies with an overall record of 22-13. On the road, the Nittany Lions will be playing their 17th game of the season, having gone 8-9. So far, the Nittany Lions have been the underdog 16 times, going 7-9 straight up. Heading into today’s contest, they are the +2.5 underdogs on the spread.

Jalen Pickett comes into today’s game as the Nittany Lions’ leading scorer at 17.86 points per contest. Not only has Pickett been key to the team’s scoring efforts, but he is Penn State’s top rebounder at 7.34 boards per contest. Behind Pickett, the team has benefited from the strong play of Seth Lundy, who is second on the team in scoring at 14.38 points per game. Overall, he has hit 45.4% of his shots and is adding 6.32 boards per game.

Offensive production has been hard to come by for Penn State this season, as they are currently ranked 391st in college basketball at 64.6 points per game. A major reason for low scoring totals is the fact that they have played at a below average pace, and have struggled to knock down outside shots. As a team, the Nittany Lions’ 3-point shooting percentage sits at just 34.2%, placing them 237th in the NCAA.

Aggies Preview:

Texas A&M will take the floor against the Nittany Lions with an overall record of 25-9. So far this season, Texas A&M has played 21 games at home, sitting with a record of 17-4. At the time of this article, the oddsmakers have the Aggies as the -2.5 point favorites. The Aggies have been favored 26 times, going 22-4 straight up.

Texas A&M will be counting on another strong performance from the team’s leading scorer Wade Taylor IV who is averaging 16.53 points per game for the Aggies. IV is also important to the team’s ability to score on the perimeter. So far, he leads the team in 3-point shots made. Also key to the Aggies’ offensive game plan is the play of Tyrece Radford who has hit 38.8% of his field goal attempts on his way to averaging 13.24 points per game.

Offensive production has been hard to come by for Texas A&M this season, as they are currently ranked 152nd in college basketball at 72.8 points per game. A major reason for low scoring totals is the fact that they have played at a below average pace, and have struggled to knock down outside shots. As a team, the Aggies’ 3-point shooting percentage sits at just 33.6%, placing them 281st in the NCAA.

Free Spread Prediction: Penn State Nittany Lions +2.5

After running our analysis on this game, we’ve identified the best side to take on the spread. Currently, the oddsmakers have Texas A&M as the favorites with a line coming in at -2.5. However, based on how these team’s matchup, we see this number being too high and like the Penn State Nittany Lions to cover. Both team’s have knocked down the 3-point shot at a rate similar to the NCAA average this season with Texas A&M at 6.86 made 3’s per game compared to Penn State at 8.03. Look for Penn State to put together a strong enough defensive effort to cover the spread vs the Aggies.