Sports Betting Recap 03/11/2020: NCAA Tournament Surprises

Buddy Boeheim and Bourama Sidibe dropped 17 and 12 points respectively in the Cuse rout of the Tar Heels.

The Hornets (+425) earned a big upset win over the Heat.
Washington State (+400) shocked NCAA Tournament-bound Colorado in the Pac-12 tournament.
Syracuse (+2.5) reminded us that North Carolina isn’t very good with a blowout ACC tournament win.
An open net goal in the closing seconds of the Jets-Oilers game left a bad taste in the mouth of bettors who bet the under-5.5.
The NBA announced that it would be suspending the regular season and the NCAA announced that March Madness would be played without fans this year.

NEW YORK – The big story of the night was the NBA’s decision to suspend the regular season indefinitely after Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert tested positive for Coronavirus.

NCAA President Mark Emmert’s reaction to the virus wasn’t quite as severe as the NBA’s, but he still announced that the upcoming NCAA Men’s and Women’s Basketball Tournaments, would be played without fans.

There were a number of major upsets and shocking results across all different sports, but they almost felt like an afterthought in the wake of all the Coronavirus-related news.

Favorites Who Covered A Big Spread

Philadelphia 76ers (-12) vs. Detroit Pistons – 76ers 124, Pistons 106

Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid scored 30 points and grabbed 14 points in his first game back after dealing with a shoulder injury. Detroit Pistons forward Cedric Wood had a monster game, finishing with 32 points on 78% shooting, but the rest of the Pistons were ice cold for the night.

Notre Dame Fighting Irish (-11.5) vs. Boston College Eagles – Notre Dame 80, Boston College 58

Notre Dame got out to a 30-12 lead in the first 16 minutes and never looked back. Boston College looked undersized and athletically overmatched. Any hopes of at least covering the spread were dashed by a poor shooting performance—under 34% from the field.

Indiana Hoosiers (-15) vs. Nebraska Cornhuskers – Indiana 89, Nebraska 64

Indiana got great effort across the board, with five different players scoring in double figures, and got 38 points from their bench. The result of this game won’t be remembered as well as the fact that Nebraska head coach Scott Hoiberg had to be taken to the hospital after the final whistle after looking ill on the sidelines throughout the game.

Longshot Moneyline Winners

Charlotte Hornets +425 – Hornets 109, Miami Heat 98

The Hornets hit 50% of their three-point attempts for the night and got 30 points from point guard Devonte Graham, who finished 8-for-11 from behind the arc. Despite strong performances from a handful of starters, the Heat were unable to overcome a woeful performance from their bench, who finished 7-for-25 on field goal attempts.

Washington State Cougars +400 – Washington State 82, Colorado Buffaloes 68

Colorado, a projected seven-seed in the NCAA Tournament closed as 10-point favorites and were expected to cruise to an easy win over Washington State, who finished 11th in the Pac-12 during the regular season. Instead, WSU’s C.J. Elleby detonated for 30 points and Colorado’s offense looked lifeless for long stretches of the game.

Games Where The Oddsmakers Were Way Off

Denver Nuggets (-2.5) vs. Dallas Mavericks – Mavericks 113, Nuggets 97

The Mavericks got 49 combined points from Boban Marjanovic and Luka Doncic to end a three-game losing streak. After the Mavs took a one-point lead with 11:47 remaining in the fourth quarter, they never relinquished it.

New York Knicks 136, Atlanta Hawks 131 (OT) – Over/Under closed at 232.5

To be fair, oddsmakers couldn’t have accounted for overtime when they set the over/under. The best moment of the game came when 43-year-old Vince Carter came off the bench for the Hawks and hit a three—the final shot of the game and potentially the final shot of Carter’s storied career if the NBA chooses to cancel the rest of the season.

Georgia Bulldogs vs. Ole Miss Rebels (-3) – Georgia 81, Ole Miss 63

Many expected Georgia to win this game, but few had them dominating in this fashion. The performance was even more impressive considering that coveted NBA prospect Anthony Edwards scored only six points for the Bulldogs.

North Carolina Tar Heels (-2.5) vs. Syracuse Orange – Syracuse 81, North Carolina 53

North Carolina looked impressive in their first-round victory over Virginia Tech and entered this matchup as slight favorites. Instead, the Tar Heels reminded everyone why they finished dead last in the ACC, shooting 33% from the field and committing 18 turnovers in a game that was over by halftime.

Kansas State Wildcats 53, TCU Horned Frogs 49 – Over/Under closed at 125.5

This first-round Big 12 Tournament matchup moved at a glacial pace, with both teams turning the ball over on 20% of their possessions and shooting poorly from everywhere on the floor. This was just Kansas State’s fourth Big 12 win of the season.

Bad Beats And Last Minute Changes

Winnipeg Jets 4, Edmonton Oilers 2 – Over/Under closed at 5.5

The game was tightly contested throughout the night, and the Jets held a one-goal lead late. In desperation, the Oilers pulled goalie Mike Smith to force an equalizing goal. Instead, the Jets’ Kyle Connor buried an empty-net goal with 40 seconds left in the game, icing the result and breaking the hearts of anyone who took the under.

Unfortunate Sports Betting Pushes

Georgia 81, Ole Miss 63 – Over/Under closed at 144

There looked to be a good chance for this game to hit the under, with Georgia holding a 79-63 lead in the closing seconds with both teams looking ready to go home. Then Ole Miss got careless and turned the ball over, which led to a wide-open Georgia dunk on the other end of the floor.

Washington Nationals 6, Houston Astros 2 – Over/Under closed at 8.0

The Astros led 1-0 heading into the ninth inning, but the Nationals got six hits and plated six runs in the top of the ninth. Then the Astros’ Bryan De La Cruz hit a solo home run in the bottom of the ninth to push the final total to eight runs.

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Carter Floyd

With a dual background in English and sports performance and business analytics, Carter aims to write stories that both engage and inform the reader. He prides himself on his ability to interweave empirical data and traditional narrative storytelling. When he isn’t keeping readers up to date on the latest sports betting legal news, he’s banging his head against a wall regretting his decision to be a Tampa Bay Buccaneers fan.