NCAA Tournament First Round: (4) Oklahoma State (20-8) vs (13) Liberty (23-5) prediction and college basketball game preview.
Oklahoma State vs Liberty Broadcast
Date: Friday, March 19
Game Time: 6:25 pm ET
Venue: Indiana Farmers Coliseum, Indianapolis, IN
Network: TBS
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Oklahoma State vs Liberty Game Preview
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Why Liberty Will Win
The Flames have been fantastic over the last two months, winning their last 12 games including the Atlantic Sun regular season and tournament titles.
They’re going to bomb away from three, and then to it again, and then again. They’re 12th in the nation in three point attempts and they’re hitting them at a 30% clip – one of the best in the country.
Combine that with a suffocating defense that forces a ton of takeaways and generates a slew of easy transition points, and this is one dangerous team that’s going to keep coming.
However …
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Why Oklahoma State Will Win
Oklahoma State was the best in the Big 12 at guarding the three.
That’s not to say it can’t get hit by teams cranking it up from the outside – Oklahoma certainly had no problems doing that – but in a comp sort of way, Oral Roberts was able to make 16 threes and kept up with the Cowboys back in December, and lost.
Oklahoma State can get the D out on the three, and it can rebound. It was the Big 12’s best team on the boards, its defense was great at forcing mistakes, and it’s nasty on the inside.
For all of the great things Liberty does, it’s only okay on the boards – at least against a team like OSU that can get nasty on the glass – and it doesn’t force a lot of turnovers.
What’s Going To Happen
Liberty lost close games to TCU and Missouri, and it was rolled by Purdue, but it beat Mississippi State and South Carolina. If the threes are falling, it has a chance.
Here’s the problem, though.
Liberty is fantastic on the free throw line, but it doesn’t get there. It shoots so much from the outside that it doesn’t force a slew of fouls and shots. Fouls are an issue for the Cowboys, but that shouldn’t be a problem in this.
The Flames will give OSU all it can handle, but they don’t have Cade Cunningham, and the other side does.
– College Basketball Experts Picks For Oklahoma State vs Liberty
Oklahoma State vs Liberty Prediction, Line
Oklahoma State 74, Liberty 69
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Line: Oklahoma State -7.5, o/u: 141
ATS Confidence out of 5: 2.5
Must See Rating: 3
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