The McNeese Cowboys will face the North Texas Mean Green in a non-conference men's college basketball game on Thursday at The Super Pit in Denton, Texas. Tipoff is scheduled for 5 p.m. ET. Both teams opened their seasons with victories on Monday: McNeese defeated UAB 99-78, while North Texas routed Southwestern Christian 122-50.
McNeese finished the previous season 28-6 overall and 19-3 in the Southland Conference, and has gone 10-5 on the road since the start of last season. North Texas was 19-14 overall and 9-9 in the American Athletic Conference, and is 13-5 at home since November of last year.
The Cowboys enter as 2.5-point favorites with an over/under of 140.5 points, according to the latest odds. The money line lists McNeese at -148 and North Texas at +124. The SportsLine Projection Model, which simulates each game 10,000 times, projects the total to stay under 140.5 points, with the under hitting in 56% of simulations. The model notes that the under has cashed in five of McNeese's last eight games. Last season, McNeese ranked 85th nationally in scoring at 79.7 points per game, while North Texas ranked 288th at 70.9 points per game.
The model projects four North Texas players to score in double figures, led by Je'Shawn Stevenson with over 18 points. For McNeese, Larry Johnson is projected to score 21 or more points. The model also indicates one side of the spread hits in well over 60% of simulations; detailed picks are available via SportsLine.
