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The Texas A&M–Corpus Christi Islanders return to the NCAA Men's College Basketball Tournament. They open as a -4 favorite against the SE Missouri State Redhawks (some books had the number at -4.5). Those 18 and up living in Corpus Christi and across the US can bet this First Four game at BetOnline.
Texas A&M–Corpus Christi in the First Four
Prior to last year, the Islanders had only played in the NCAA Tournament in 2007.
Trevian Tennyson (15.7 PPG, 41% from 3), Isaac Mushila (14.4 PPG, 9.7 RPG) and Terrion Murdix (13.4 PPG, 2.3 SPG) all returned after helping deliver their team to the tournament last season. And as one might expect, this is an improved Islanders squad.
This year, the Southland tournament champs were first in both offensive and defensive efficiency in league play, per KenPom. In their thournament game last year, the Islanders connected on just 32% of their 3-point attempts.
Southland Conference Defensive Player of the Year Murdix suffered an injury in the opening minutes of the Southland Championship and had to be carried off the court.
"They were all shell shocked. I was shell shocked," Texas A&M-Corpus Christi coach Steve Lutz said. "It took everything to not cry on the sideline for that kid, because he has given us everything he has. These guys are human. Terrion is best friends with half of them. He is that guy.
"You see him go down and it takes a good while to regroup. When you have good people and guys that care, they are usually going to get themselves out of that little funk, and to their credit, they did."
Texas A&M went 21-10 Straight Up on the season and 15-12 Against The Spread.
- Mary Montgomery, Gambling911.com
