Wake Forrest Demon Deacons vs. Texas Longhorns Betting Odds

Opening Line: Texas -5 / Wake Forrest +5 O/U 147

Time: 9:35 PM EST Thursday March 18, 2010 on CBS

Tonight the 8th seed Texas Longhorns take on the 9th seed Wake Forrest Demon Deacons in a 1st round East Region game. The big question for Texas is which Longhorns' team will show up? Will the Texas team that was once the #1 team in the nation this season or the one that lost 9 of their last 16 games including their season finale be in the building tonight? Wake Forrest also ended the season in a tailspin losing 5 of their last 6 games.

This season Texas is 11-18 ATS and Wake Forrest is 14-11-1 ATS.

In their last games Wake Forrest lost to Miami badly 83-62 in the 1st round of the ACC tournament and Texas also lost badly falling to Baylor 86-67 in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 tourney.

Texas has a well-balanced offense with G/F Damion James (18 ppg), G Avery Bradley (11.7 ppg), and C Dexter Pittman (10.6 ppg). The Longhorns' offense is a solid on averaging just over 81 ppg, but they struggled down the stretch only breaking the 80-point barrier 3 times in their last 13 games.

Wake also have a well-balanced team with a forward and 2 guards averaging in double figures led by leading scorer Al-Farouq Aminu (15.7 ppg).

The big match up in this game will be between F Al-Farouq Aminu and G/F Damion James, as each is their team's leading scorer and rebounder both averaging over 10 boards per game. The winner of this match up may determine the outcome of the game.

Texas is a very athletic team that likes to get out and run and Wake Forrest has to try to slow the tempo of the game down and not allow the Longhorns to get out on the break.

The Demon Deacons are a solid 3-point shooting team with the guard duo of Ishmael Smith (13.3 ppg) and C.J. Harris (10 ppg) and the Longhorns have to play good perimeter D and not give these guys open looks from downtown.

Both teams are really struggling, but somebody has to win the game and a win may snap them out of their recent slump and they will need that, as the winner will likely face top-seed Kentucky in the 2nd round.

Betting Trends

Texas is 9-4 ATS in their last 13 non-conference games, 3-11 ATS in their last 14 games as a favorite, and has an Over record of 4-0 in their last 4 games.

Wake Forrest is 7-3 ATS in their last 10 games, 4-1 ATS in their last 5 games as an underdog, and has an Under record of 4-1 in their last 5 games.