NCAAB: #11 New Mexico vs #6 Clemson Odds, and Picks (Mar 22)

• New Mexico claimed the Mountain West’s automatic bid, after defeating SDSU.
• Clemson is aiming to rebound from a brutal 21-point defeat to Boston College.
• This will be the first meeting between these two teams in their program histories.

The NCAA Tournament is officially underway! Let’s take a look at this matchup between the New Mexico Lobos and the Clemson Tigers. New Mexico enters the tournament scorching-hot after winning the Mountain West, but faces the battle-tested Tigers.

How to Watch

• truTV

Preview

New Mexico left nothing in doubt by winning the Mountain West Conference, after spending much of February and March on the bubble. The Lobos may be under-seeded a bit as an 11-seed, but still face a tough task against a Clemson team that played a much tougher schedule. That being said, the Lobos have some signature wins of their own, though none in out of conference play. They’ll aim to silence any doubters behind two-way Senior G Jaelen House, who has been instrumental to their success.

Clemson is one of the more unpredictable teams in the nation, holding 5-5 records in both Quadrant 1 and Quadrant 2 games. When they’re winning, it’s because of the presence of senior C PJ Hall in the paint. Hall is an efficient scorer, but has a tendency to get beat on the glass by more physical centers. If Hall is able to establish himself down low against New Mexico, the Tigers will be set up for success. Clemson took a nasty defeat to Boston College in their last game, needing a bounce back here.

Prediction

With the way that New Mexico played down the stretch, it’s hard to imagine betting against them. Vegas seems to agree, setting the Lobos as a 2.5-point favorite despite being the 11-seed in an 11-6 matchup. That being said, I would be wary of overrating conference tournament performances. Viewing the season as a whole, objectively, the Tigers are the better team in this matchup. Their size and physicality will put on lot of pressure on New Mexico. I see Clemson winning this game.

NCAAB Picks:

• Clemson 76, New Mexico 71 (CLEM +2.5)