East Carolina Pirates vs North Texas Mean Green Prediction, 3/3/2024 College Basketball Picks, Best Bets & Odds

Game: East Carolina Pirates vs North Texas Mean Green

Date: Sunday, March 3, 2024

Location: The Super Pit in Denton, TX

TV: ESPN+

The East Carolina Pirates (14-13) are on their way to The Super Pit on Sunday where they will meet the North Texas Mean Green (15-12).

The East Carolina Pirates took the court against Rice and ended up losing by a score of 70-52 in their last contest. East Carolina finished with a 35.2% field goal percentage (19 out of 54) and made 7 of 21 3-point attempts. When they shot from the charity stripe, the Pirates buried 7 of their 11 attempts for a rate of 63.6%. Regarding grabbing rebounds, they earned 27 with 7 of them being of the offensive variety. They also recorded 10 assists for the game in addition to forcing the other team into 9 turnovers and getting 5 steals. When talking about defense, East Carolina allowed the other team to shoot 47.3% from the floor on 26 out of 55 shooting. Rice doled out 15 assists and had 3 steals in this matchup. Furthermore, Rice totaled 36 boards (8 offensive, 28 defensive), but didn't record a block for the team. Rice walked away from this one shooting 81.8% from the free throw line by converting 9 of 11 shots. They buried 9 out of their 24 attempts from 3-point land. With respect to fouls, the Pirates finished with 13 and Rice racked up 11 fouls.

RJ Felton is one guy who was important for the matchup. He accounted for 15 points on 5 out of 9 shooting. He played for 32 mins and totaled 6 boards. He ended up going 55.6% from the floor and also distributed 1 assist.

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East Carolina steps onto the court with a mark of 14-13 so far this season. They currently have an average of 69.2 pts per game (298th in the country) while shooting 41.9% from the field. The Pirates are hitting 31.2% on 3-pointers (181 of 581) and 69.8% from the free throw line. As a unit, East Carolina is grabbing 35.1 rebounds per game and has tallied 324 assists on the year, which is 308th in college basketball in terms of passing the ball. They are losing possession via turnover 10.4 times per contest and as a team they commit 15.3 personal fouls per game.

On defense, the Pirates are able to force 13.1 turnovers on a nightly basis and they draw 16.1 fouls. They are 82nd in college hoops in giving up assists to their opponents with 329 relinquished for the season. The Pirates defense is giving up an opponent FG percentage of 43.3% (645 of 1,489) and they surrender 34.7 boards per game as a group. They relinquish 30.8% on shots from beyond the arc and they are 71st in the country in PPG allowed (67.8).

When they last stepped on the hardwood, the North Texas Mean Green took home the win by a final score of 80-76 when they played Tulane. In reference to cleaning up the glass, North Texas permitted Tulane to pull down 28 overall (5 on the offensive side). They shot 36.8% from behind the 3-point line by connecting on 7 of 19 and walked away from this one shooting 23 of 34 from the free throw line (67.6%). The Mean Green permitted Tulane to bury 23 out of 49 attempts from the floor which left them with a shooting percentage of 46.9% in the game. Overall, the Mean Green finished 26 out of 57 from the floor which gave them a shooting percentage of 45.6%. With respect to shooting from distance, North Texas made 8 of 23 attempts (34.8%). They were able to knock down 20 of them for a percentage of 80.0%. Tulane was called for 18 personal fouls in this game which got the Mean Green to the free throw line for a total of 25 attempts. They coughed up the ball 10 times, while recording 8 steals in this game. The Mean Green collected 25 defensive rebounds and 4 offensive rebounds totaling 29 for the matchup.

Aaron Scott was important for the Mean Green in this contest. He made 8 of 14 for the contest giving him a rate of 57.1%, and accumulated 3 rebounds. He racked up 19 points in his 36 minutes of playing time and added 6 assists in the matchup.

North Texas has a record of 15-12 this year. The Mean Green commit 17.0 fouls per contest and they hit 73.2% from the charity stripe. They are getting an assist 10.8 times per game (335th in D-1) and they are losing possession via turnover 11.7 times per contest. North Texas has 1,828 points for the season (67.7 per game) and they pull in 35.0 rebounds per contest. As an offense, the Mean Green are hitting on 43.0% from the floor, which is ranked 279th in the country.

The Mean Green defensively are ranked 6th in D-1 in points per game surrendered with 61.8. They are forcing 12.7 turnovers on a nightly basis and allow teams to shoot 40.0% from the floor (16th in college basketball). The North Texas defense allows 31.4% on shots from beyond the arc (162 of 516) and their opponents are making 71.1% of their free throw attempts. They give up 9.4 dimes and 32.8 rebounds every game, which has them ranked 5th and 71st in the nation.

Who will win tonight's NCAA basketball game against the spread?

Guy Bruhn's Pick: Take North Texas

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