NCAA First Four: Texas Southern Vs. NC Central

First Four Determines Who Plays Xavier

The Texas Southern Tigers and the North Carolina Central Eagles will in the last Final Four matchup on Wednesday when they meet at UD Arena. Tip-off is set for 6:40 pm EST. Tru-TV will have the broadcast as part of TBS NCAA Tournament Coverage. Oddsmakers opened the Tigers as -5-point favorites versus the Eagles, while the game’s total opened at 146.5. The line has held pretty steady. The winner will play Xavier. Xavier is the top-seeded team in the West Regional. The action will be on Friday in Nashville, Tenn. Never has a 16th seed ever toppled a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Texas Southern likes to get up and down the floor and score. The Tigers are averaging 77 points per game. They scored 90 or more in seven games this season. That average is skewed a bit to the low side because the Tigers’ non-conference schedule. The brutal run included games against Kansas, Syracuse, Oregon, Clemson, Baylor and TCU. Texas Southern beat top-seeded Arkansas-Pine Bluff 84-69 on Saturday in the Southwest Athletic Conference championship game. This secured an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament for the second straight season. The Tigers record is a little misleading. The Tigers played all of their non-conference games away from home. They began the season with 13 straight losses. Once they got back home and into SWAC play they won 15 of their final 21 games. They won their last seven. They scored an average of 91 points in the seven victories.

NC Central Wants to Control the Pace in First Four Matchup

NC Central beat top-seeded Hampton 71-63. That afforded them the automatic bid from the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference. The Eagles entered the conference tournament as the No. 6 seed but were undaunted. Based out of Durham, NC Central is making its second straight trip to the NCAA Tournament. It is also their third in five years. They lost to Iowa State in San Antonio in 2014 in their first trip and fell to UC-Davis last season in Dayton. The Eagles prefer a slow, plodding style, averaging about 72 points per game. NC Central and Texas Southern represent the only two conferences of historically black colleges and universities that receive an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. They have never played.

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Power Stats

Texas Southern Tigers

North Carolina Central Eagles

First Four Supergrid

Title	Stat	Rank	Stat	Rank
Away Team Overall Scoring vs Home Team Overall Defense	0.00	0	0.00	0
Home Team Overall Scoring vs Away Team Overall Defense	0.00	0	0.00	0

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Texas Southern Tigers

North Carolina Central Eagles

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