NC State vs Oakland Prediction 3-23-24 College Basketball Picks

The Oakland Golden Grizzlies and the NC State Wolfpack meet Saturday in the college basketball NCAA Tournament Second Round at the PPG Paints Arena. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best bets for this game. Here’s an Oakland vs. NC State Prediction.

Oakland Team Preview

The Oakland Golden Grizzlies come into the second round of the tournament after picking up an 80-76 win over Kentucky last time out. Trey Townsend leads the Golden Grizzlies across the board with 16.9 PPG, 7.9 RPG and 3.1 APG while Chris Conway has 10 PPG this season. Blake Lampman’s chipped in 12.8 PPG with 3.3 RPG and 3APG and Jack Gohlke has 12.8 PPG with 4 RPG to cap off the group of double-digit scorers for Oakland up to this point in the season. As a team, Oakland is averaging 76.4 PPG on 45% shooting from the field, 35.1% from behind the arc and 75.8% from the foul line this season.

NC State Team Preview

The NC State Wolfpack booked their spot in the second round thanks to an 80-67 win over Texas Tech last time out. Before that game, NC State beat North Carolina. DJ Horne leads the Wolfpack in scoring with 16.5 PPG along with 2.1 APG while Jayden Taylor has 12.2 PPG with 3.9 RPG. DJ Burns Jr. has 12.2 PPG with 4 RPG and 2.6 APG while Casey Morsell has 11.6 PPG with 2.8 RPG to cap off the scoring in double figures for NC State up to this point in the year. Mohamed Diarra has a team-high 7.2 RPG as well for the Wolfpack and Michael O’Connell leads NC State with 3 APG as well this season. As a team, NC State is averaging 76.1 PPG on 44.7% shooting from the field, 34.5% from three and 73.2% from the foul line this season.

Oakland vs. NC State Prediction

I’m leaning towards NC State here. I know Oakland’s the trendy underdog pick after their win over Kentucky, but the Golden Grizzlies needed a bit of a herculean effort from Jack Gohlke from behind the arc to pull away in that game. NC State’s got a lot more balance and I think the book is out on Oakland. There are better spots on Saturday’s card, but I’ll stick with the Wolfpack here.