The Southern Jaguars take on the Prairie View A&M Panthers on Saturday night in the Southwestern Athletic Conference championship game. The game tips off at 7:30 p.m. ET in College Park, Georgia.
The Jaguars are listed as 2.5-point favorites on DraftKings Sportsbook with the total set at O/U 145.5 points. Below is my full preview, prediction and pick for the SWAC title game.
Prairie View A&M vs. Southern prediction, preview
It has been a fascinating SWAC Tournament so far. The chaos started when No. 8-seeded Prairie View A&M knocked off No. 1-seeded Bethune-Cookman in the quarterfinals. Prairie View A&M was not a very good team for most of the season. The Panthers were 4-8 through their first 12 games of the SWAC schedule. However, Prairie View A&M went on a nice run down the stretch, winning four of its last five regular-season games. That gave the school some serious momentum heading into the conference tournament. The Panthers used that to knock off the top team in the conference in the quarterfinals and the No. 5 team in the semifinals, Alabama A&M. Now, Prairie View A&M takes on the No. 3-seeded Southern Jaguars with a trip to the NCAA Tournament on the line.
Southern University had a solid season in the SWAC. The Jaguars got tested with some serious non-conference opponents, such as Arkansas, Illinois and Texas. That toughened the team up for a good run in SWAC play. They finished the regular season tied for second place, with an 11-7 record in conference play. The Jaguars have taken care of business in the conference tournament and are now riding a four-game winning streak. This team can score the basketball and is a well-balanced group. The Jaguars have six players averaging over nine points per game this season. However, they are led by standout senior guard Michael Jacobs, who is averaging 17.3 points and 5.0 assists per game this season.
Prairie View A&M vs. Southern pick
My best bet for this game is the over 145.5 total points. These were the two highest-scoring teams in the SWAC all season. Southern led the league in scoring, averaging 80.0 points per game, while Prairie View A&M averaged 79.1 points per game. Prairie View A&M loves to push the pace, ranking 11th in the nation in adjusted tempo. Southern wants to play at the same pace, ranking 32nd in adjusted tempo. Prairie View A&M has two of the top four individual scorers in the conference, Tai’reon Joseph and Dontae Horne. Multiple players on each team can score in bunches.
The first matchup this season between these teams this season had a final score of 89-85, while the second matchup had a final score of 87-82. Both of those games sailed over the set total for this championship game. Both of these teams will be pushing until the final buzzer with a birth in the NCAA Tournament on the line. This game should go over this total, just like the two regular-season matchups did.
