The Texas A&M Aggies play the Saint Mary's Gaels in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, on Thursday, March 19. Tip-off is set for 7:35 p.m. ET on truTV.
Saint Mary's is favored by -2.5 points on the spread with a moneyline of -160. Meanwhile, Texas A&M is the underdog at +2.5 with a moneyline of +132. The total is set at 147.5 points.
Here’s my Texas A&M vs. Saint Mary's prediction and college basketball picks for Thursday, March 19.
Texas A&M vs Saint Mary's Odds, Spread, Pick
| Texas A&M Odds | ||
|---|---|---|
| Spread | Total | Moneyline |
+2.5 +100 | 12.5 -118o / -111u | +130 |
| Saint Mary's Odds | ||
|---|---|---|
| Spread | Total | Moneyline |
-2.5 -110 | 12.5 -118o / -111u | -155 |
My Pick: Saint Mary's -2.5 (Play to -4)
My Texas A&M vs Saint Mary's best bet is on the Gaels to cover the spread. For all of your college basketball bets, be sure to find the best lines by using our live NCAAB odds page.
Texas A&M vs Saint Mary's NCAAB Preview
Texas A&M
Year one of Bucky McMillian at Texas A&M got off to a great start, with the Aggies jumping out to a 17-4 record and 7-1 mark in the SEC. The Aggies are just 4-7 since, and got blown out 83-63 to Oklahoma in their SEC Tournament opener.
The unique style of “Bucky Ball” makes A&M a very interesting team, and one that's unpredictable on any given night.
The Aggies will pressure you full court the entire game, play a super up-tempo style while taking a ton of 3s, and will go small ball with 6-foot-8 Rashaun Agee at the five spot to spread you out.
A&M is ninth in the country up at 88 points per game and second in the country in bench points per game with 35. McMillian isn’t afraid to use up to 12 guys in a game to keep legs fresh. The Aggies are also 16th in the country with 29 10-0 Evan Miya “killshots” (10-0 runs).
Agee is the heart and soul to this team, leading the Aggies in points and rebounds. A&M has a collection of shot creating guards in Pop Isaacs, Marcus Hill and Jacari Lane who can get downhill and shoot it from deep.
Rylan Griffen and Ruben Dominguez are two of the best shooters in the country, and stretch big Zach Clemence has really come on lately as another sniper.
Texas A&M is heavily reliant on forcing turnovers on the defensive end because of its lack of size. The Aggies finished 13th in the SEC in rebounding margin and 13th in block rate.
Saint Mary's
Randy Bennett and the Gaels are dancing once again after a 27-5 regular season. Saint Mary’s fell to Santa Clara for the second time this season in the WCC semifinals, its first loss since January 31.
For the sixth straight season, the Gaels boast a top-20 defense nationally. This group is incredibly connected and disciplined, anchored by the two towing seven-footers, Andrew McKeever and Harry Wessels.
This group is also excellent on the glass per usual (15th nationally in offensive rebounding rate, fourth best in defensive rebounding rate).
The Achilles' heel of Saint Mary’s last season was a lack of outside shooting, but this season's iteration is much better in that category. The Gaels are up at 38.6% from deep, led by the smooth shot creation of microwave combo guard Mikey Lewis. Point guard Joshua Dent and connective wing Dillan Shaw are above 39%.
Dent has admirably replaced the steadying orchestrator role from Augustas Marciulionis, although he hasn’t been as great when it comes to taking care of the basketball.
The Gaels love to play through the two aforementioned giants in the post, as well as leading scorer forward Paulius Murauskas, a physical matchup nightmare.
Texas A&M vs Saint Mary's NCAA Tournament Pick
The ultimate style clash: Fast vs. slow, big vs. little, chaos vs. discipline, SEC vs. West Coast Conference. Which team will implement its style on the game and ultimately win?
With four days of prep, I’m siding with Randy Bennett to have his guys ready for the pressure.
A&M has the shooters and optionality with Clemence and Agee to space out the defense and make things happen, but I’m not sure how much I trust the Aggies to generate turnovers. They haven’t been nearly as good in the past month and a half at consistently causing havoc.
In the half-court, I trust Saint Mary’s to generate easy shots around the rim and pass out of post doubles to find its shooters.
It’s a really tough game to read because of how dangerous A&M can be on both ends when things are clicking, but to me the right play is to trust the more disciplined unit and experienced head coach to execute the game plan.
My Pick: Saint Mary's -2.5 (Play to -4)
