The 7 vs. 10 matchups are usually popular upset picks in most brackets, but would it be upset if the 10 seed is favored in the game? That is the case in the South Region, where No. 10 seed Utah State is a very small favorite over No. 7 seed Missouri.
Tip-off is set for 1:40 p.m ET Thursday from Golden1 Center in Sacramento, California. The game will be broadcast on TNT.
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Utah State, despite its ranking as a 10 seed, finished in the top-18 in both the NET Ranking and the KenPom Rankings and brings a powerful backcourt into the tournament led by Steven Ashworth and Max Shulga. Ashworth paces the Aggies’ offense by averaging over 16 points per game and is lethal from beyond the arc, hitting 44 percent of his 3-point attempts on the season. That is the fifth-highest mark in the country.
All of that is a potentially brutal matchup for a Missouri team that allows 74.6 points per game (306th in the nation this season) and allows teams to hit more than 35 percent of its 3-point attempts (284th in the nation this season).
The Tigers have their own 3-point sharpshooters, with Kobe Brown and D’Moi Hodge both hitting more than 40 percent of their shots from behind the arc this season.
What: South Region, first round
Tipoff time: 1:40 p.m. ET Thursday
TV: TNT
Location: Golden 1 Center, Sacramento
Missouri vs. Utah State odds
Odds are from BetMGM and update live.
Expert picks
Model projection: Utah State by 3.6, total 154.8
See Austin Mock’s best bets for the first round
Players to watch
Missouri
Kobe Brown, senior forward, All-SEC first team
Utah State
Steven Ashworth, junior guard, All-MWC first team
Dan Akin, graduate forward, MWC Sixth Man of the Year
More NCAA men’s basketball tournament coverage
- Austin Mock’s 12 best bets for first-round games
- NCAA Tournament 2023 bracket picks from Seth Davis: Why Alabama will win it all
- Region breakdowns: Midwest | East | South | West
(Photo of Kobe Brown: Andy Lyons / Getty Images)