2022 NCAA Tournament First Round: No. 8 Boise State Broncos vs. No. 9 Memphis Tigers
How to Watch:
- Date: Thursday, March 17
- Time: 1:45 p.m. ET
- Location: Moda Center in Portland, OR
- TV: TNT
- Live Stream: NCAA.com
Tale of the Tape:
| No. 8 BSU | STAT | No. 9 MEM |
| Mountain West | Conference | American |
| 27-7 | Record | 21-10 |
| 68.7 (265th) | Points Per Game | 75.4 (70th) |
| 60.8 | Points Allowed Per Game | 68.4 |
| 0.6129 (18th) | RPI | 0.5956 (31st) |
| 74th | Strength of Schedule | 60th |
| Automatic Bid | Bid | At-Large Bid |
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Boise State leaders:
- Abu Kigab, F, SR: 14.7 PPG, 5.8 RPG, 2.4 APG, 50.6% FG
- Marcus Shaver Jr., G, SR: 13.6 PPG, 3.8 RPG, 2.2 APG, 1.1 SPG
Memphis leaders:
- Jalen Duran, C, FR: 12.2 PPG, 8.1 RPG, 2.2 BPG, 62.6% FG
- DeAndre Williams, F, SR: 10.9 PPG, 5.8 RPG, 1.4 SPG, 55.2% FG
Odds, Lines, and Past Performance:
- MEM Moneyline: -145
- BSU Moneyline: +125
- Spread: MEM -2.5
- Over/Under: 132
- ATS Record: MEM 15-15-1, BSU 18-15
- Over/Under Record: MEM 16-14-1, BSU 15-18
Odds courtesy of Draftkings. For the latest odds, click here.
The Pick:
- The Tigers are exactly the kind of trendy pick that people love to make in the Big Dance. They have loads of raw ability and lots of inexperience with three of their top seven players being freshmen on a team that hasn’t made the tournament since 2013-14. Meanwhile, six of the top seven members of the Broncos’ rotation are seniors, even though they too haven’t made the tournament since 2014-15.
- Both teams coming into this game riding hot, with the Tigers winning ten of its final eleven games, and the Broncos going 21-3 over their final stretch, including winning their conference tournament.
- With both teams playing in their first NCAA Tournament game in a while, the team that handles its nerves best could give itself a leg up. The Broncos’ age is an advantage, as is the fact that they averaged just 12.1 turnovers a game this year, while the Tigers have given the ball away 16.4 times, with is the 5th-worst in the nation and the worst of any team that made the tournament.
- Part of that is thanks to their style of play. The Tigers are 34th in the nation in adjusted tempo, while the Broncos are 305th. The Broncos will want to slow the game down and rely on their 16th ranked defense, but their 76th ranked offense is not that far behind the 50th-ranked unit that the Tigers will put out there. Both teams are pretty well-rounded, so it will likely just come down to which team can impose its pace and limit costly mistakes.
