UNC Wilmington vs Texas Tech Odds, Picks & Predictions for First Round (March 20)

• The #3 Texas Tech Red Raiders are a heavy 14.5-point favorite over the #14 UNC Wilmington Seahawks in Thursday’s first-round game
• The Red Raiders have a couple of injuries to key players that could impact this game
• See my UNC Wilmington vs Texas Tech odds and predictions for the West Region first-round contest, below

The #14 UNC Wilmington Seahawks (27-7) have won six straight games, having taken the CAA Championship by knocking off Delaware 76-72. They’re in tough, however, as they square off versus the 25-8 Texas Tech Red Raiders, who dropped the Big 12 Championship semi-final 86-80 to the Arizona Wildcats.

Thursday’s college basketball odds have the Red Raiders as heavy favorites in this tilt. Tip-off is scheduled for 10:10pm ET at Intrust Bank Arena, in Wichita, Kansas with TruTV providing the broadcast coverage in the United States and TSN in Canada.

UNC Wilmington vs Texas Tech Odds

The Red Raiders are currently massive favorites by 14.5-points and they’re -1650 on the moneyline, while the total is sitting at 143.5. Per the college basketball public betting trends, the public likes Texas Tech to hold serve with a whopping 91% of moneyline wagers on them.

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Odds as of March 20 at DraftKings. Download the best March Madness betting apps.

UNC Wilmington vs Texas Tech Analysis

The final game of the Thursday slate features what appears to be a lopsided affair, on paper. The -1650 odds on the moneyline represent a win probability of 94.3%. However, our SBD model believes it’ll be a tighter battle than that, with UNC Wilmington vs Texas Tech shaping up to be a 76.7-74.6 close contest, won by Texas Tech, according to the formula. That obviously points to the Seahawks covering the 14.5 spread, and it being over the listed 143.5 total.

The Red Raiders are 21-5 as the favorite on the moneyline, while UNC Wilmington is 3-2 as the underdog. The Seahawks are 4-0-1 against the spread as the team expected to lose, while TTU is just 13-12-1 ATS as the fave.

How Is the Public Betting UNC Wilmington vs Texas Tech?

UNC Wilmington vs Texas Tech public betting splits as of 9:30 am ET, March 20.

The March Madness public betting splits show Texas Tech getting 91% of wagers on the moneyline, but UNC Wilmington 54% of bets to cover the spread. That’s down from 64% on Wednesday.

The public has a much stronger take on the game total, where 76% of O/U handle is on under 143.5, which totally flipped from 71% of bettors wagering on the over when the line was set at 142.5 a day before.

UNC Wilmington vs Texas Tech Prediction

• UNC Wilmington +14.5 (-108)

Before immediately assuming that Texas Tech will ensure UNC Wilmington won’t be the 24th #14 seed to topple a #3 seed, keep in mind that their second and third leading scorers are iffy to play this game. Darrion Williams (14.3 PPG) is nursing an ankle sprain, though he’s indicated he’ll play. Chance McMillian (14.2 PPG) has an upper-body ailment and he will be a game-time decision, according to head coach Grant McCasland. This could potentially slow down the Red Raiders quite a bit.

Their leading scorer is JT Toppin (18.1 PPG), and he also leads the team in rebounds. He was limited to 24 minutes in the Big 12 Championship semi-final to Arizona, putting up just eleven points on 4-of-13 shooting. Before that, he had at least 20 points in eight of ten contests.

In the March Madness champion odds, Texas Tech is +3500 to win it all on DraftKings. I do believe things may be a tad more difficult in terms of putting up a lot of points, given some injuries. However, that won’t get in the way of a victory for the favorites.

UNC Wilmington is back in the dance for the first time since 2017. They won 15 of their final 17 affairs, so discounting them totally might not be wise, particularly with how bullish our model is on the Seahawks. It’s too tall a task to expect them to win their first NCAA tournament game in 23 years, but I think they can keep it close enough to cover.

Be sure to check out SBD’s other March Madness content:

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• Best March Madness Bets According to KenPom
• Printable March Madness bracket
• SBD’s Expert March Madness Brackets
• The Public’s Pick for Every March Madness Game
• The 3 Best March Madness Cinderella Picks for 2025
• Early March Madness Bets to Target – Three First-Round Underdogs Showing Value
• Odds to Reach Final Four for All 68 Teams in 2025 NCAA Tournament
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