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The 12th seed Middle Tennessee State Blue Raiders face the 5th seed Minnesota Golden Gophers in a South Region first round NCAA Tournament game that will take place at a neutral site at the BMO Harris Bradley Center Milwaukee, Wisconsin Thursday March 16th at 4 PM ET. We’ve had as flip flop of favorites with Minnesota opening as a 1-point favorite before some Middle Tennessee State money drove the line to MTSU -1. The over/under line for this match hit the board at 136.5, but now some shops have dropped the total to 136 points.
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Middle Tennessee State is coming off an 83-72 win over Marshall in their last game where they covered the 10-point line. The total number of points scored in the game was 155, which was under the closing line of 158. The Blue Raiders have covered the spread in their last four games and previous to the Marshall game the total had gone over in four straight games. Middle Tennessee State has won 10 straight games.
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Minnesota is coming off an 84-77 loss to Michigan in their last game where they failed to cover the spread as a 4-point underdog. The total number of points scored in the game was 161, which was well over the closing line of 135. The Golden Gophers have failed to cover the spread in two of their last three games and previous to the Michigan game the total had gone under in two in a row. Minnesota has lost two of their last three games.
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Offensively, Middle Tennessee State is putting up 75 points per game on a 48.7% FG average, which ranks 11th in the nation. On the defensive side of things the Blue Raiders are allowing 63.3 points per game on a 41.7% FG average.
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Minnesota is putting up 75.3 points per game on a 43.5% FG average. On defense the Golden Gophers are allowing 69.1 points per game on a 39.8% FG average, which ranks 14th in the nation.
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These teams met in the 2012 season where Minnesota beat Middle Tennessee State 78-72.
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Middle Tennessee State Blue Raiders at Minnesota Golden Gophers Betting Trends<br />
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Middle Tennessee is 4-1 against the spread in their last 5 games.
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The Blue Raiders are 5-0 straight up in their last 5 games.
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The game total has gone over in 4 of Middle Tennessee’s last 5 games.
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Minnesota is 8-3 against the spread in their last 11 games.
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The Golden Gophers are 9-2 straight up in their last 11 games.
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<h2>
Public Money Consensus<br />
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In this NCAAB matchup between Middle Tennessee and Minnesota have the public leaning to the visiting Blue Raiders minus the point with almost 70% on board. The over/under bettors are definitively betting this game will go over the posted total of 136.5 with 63% on board.
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