Charleston Southern vs. UNC Asheville Odds & Picks (Mar. 3)

• The Charleston Southern Buccaneers take on the UNC Asheville Bulldogs in the quarterfinals of the Big South tournament
• As the top seed, the Bulldogs are 7.5-point favorites for this one on Friday, March 3rd
• See the rest of the Charleston Southern vs UNC Asheville odds below, plus our prediction

One shot would’ve eliminated the Charleston Southern Buccaneers (10-20, 14-14 ATS) in the first round of the Big South tournament on Wednesday, but alas, Abdoulaye Thiam missed a three-point attempt for High Point with seconds left, allowing the Bucs to advance.

As a reward, Charleston Southern gets a date with the tournament top seed and favorite to win the conference tourney, the UNC Asheville Bulldogs (24-7, 16-12-1 ATS). Tipoff for this game is set for noon ET on Friday, March 3rd from the Bojangles’ Coliseum and will be streamed on ESPN+.

Check out the Charleston Southern vs UNC Asheville odds below as we also offer up our best bet and prediction for this Big South quarterfinal clash.

Charleston Southern vs UNC Asheville Odds

Riding a six game winning streak into tournament play, the UNC Ashville is a 7.5-point favorite to dispose of the Buccaneers. Since the calendar flipped to 2023, UNC Asheville have a record of 15-1 overall.

As +280 moneyline underdogs, Charleston Southern have an implied win probability of 26.32%, while the favorites probability to advance is 78.26% with -360 straight up odds.

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Odds as of March 2nd from FanDuel. Claim the FanDuel Sportsbook promo code. 

Charleston Southern Buccaneers Hoping for Massive Upset

If you’ve been looking through the odds to win the NCAA tournament throughout this season, a squad like Charleston Southern didn’t even register. Defeating UNC Asheville would serve as the Buccaneers biggest victory of the year.

Yeah, same picture, it ain't broke and we ain't fixing' it!!!!#BeThere pic.twitter.com/iqK8qvKHWN

— Charleston Southern Men’s Basketball (@CSU_Mbball) March 2, 2023

They did score one significant upset this season, taking down the reigning Big South champions from Longwood, 75-63 just over a month ago. However, defensively, this Bucs squad is a mess.

According to KenPom, only five teams in all of Division I basketball had a worse adjusted defensive efficiency than Charleston Southern. Granted, they’ve held their last two opponents to a combined 129 points, but those squads don’t measure up to the UNC Asheville side they’ll go up against on Friday.

UNC Asheville Bulldogs Well-Rested and Prepared

Not only do the lower seeds get the short end of the stick by having to play an extra game as they go through this tournament, they’ll also face a higher ranked side who is well rested. For the Bulldogs, a few days off this season has served them quite well.

While they are just 16-12-1 against the spread overall, UNC Asheville holds an 11-3-1 ATS mark when they’ve had three or more days off between games this season, which is exactly the case in this quarterfinal matchup.

.@BigSouthSports First Team honors to our own Tajion Jones!

He spent the whole season breaking records night-in and night-out all season long on his way to become Asheville's all-time leading scorer and 3-point shooter!#ALLinAVL #IWWD pic.twitter.com/BRgZpx8WnU

— Asheville Basketball (@UNCAvlMBB) February 28, 2023

Taking that into account, it’s actually a bit of a surprise they’re only 7.5-point favorites in the college basketball odds against a much inferior opponent.

Owning the best offense in the Big South this year, the league’s top seed scored at least 75 points in eight of their last 10 regular season contests. Drew Pember leads the way for UNC Asheville, putting up a conference leading 20.4 points, 9.2 boards and 2.3 block per outing this campaign.

Charleston Southern vs UNC Asheville Pick and Prediction

In two meetings this season, the Bulldogs took down the Buccaneers by double digits each time. The duo of Tajion Jones and Pember combined for 90 points in those two outings, tearing apart the Bucs defense.

Charleston Southern vs UNC Asheville Recent Results

Save for two games against Longwood, who they played quite well this year, Charleston Southern lost by 10 or more points in seven of nine times to squads who had an overall KenPom ranking in the top 200 this campaign. The Bulldogs find themselves in the 145th spot.

Our prediction is that UNC Asheville easily handles the Bucs for a third successive time this season. Expected to win this tournament, the Bulldogs are projected as the No. 16 seed in the March Madness bracket, in the East region and this game should just serve as an easy tune up along the way.

Pick: UNC Asheville Bulldogs -7.5 (-120)