An exciting first round matchup is coming up soon in the Men’s Basketball Championship of the East Region, as the 11^th-seed Duquesne Dukes (24-11) will compete against the sixth-seed BYU Cougars (23-10) on Thursday, March 21 at 12:40 PM ET. The matchup will take place at the CHI Health Center Omaha in Omaha, Nebraska, with the Cougars showing as -9.5 (-110) favorites.

The Dukes have definitely earned their spot in this tournament, as they finished off their regular season with an eight-game win streak and a title grab. They recently defeated the VCU Rams 57-51 in the Atlantic 10 Championship and earned a spot in this tournament for the first time in 47 years.

Dae Dae Grant had 10 points and shot horribly from the field (3/12). But, he currently leads them 16.7 points a game and typically shoots 38.9 percent from the field. He will need to have a much more aggressive performance here.

The Bulldogs were 10-8 in the A-10, which placed them sixth overall for their record here. It is surprising to see them as champions for this conference, but they are hot at the right time.

Their offense puts up 70.8 points a game, while their defense allows 66.0 points. This is a slim margin of victory, so they will definitely need to be aware of this and make adjustments heading into this matchup.

The Cougars are 3-2 in their latest set of five games heading into this matchup. Their most recent battle was an 81-67 defeat in the Big 12 Championship Quarterfinal match against the Texas Tech Red Raiders.

Jaxson Robinson led with 18 points and arguably helped them storm back in the second half to make this a respectable margin defeat after being down by 19 in the first half. Robison leads them offensively with 13.8 points per game.

The Big 12 was another tough conference to be a part of this season and the Cougars went 10-8 and finished fifth overall. They also finished 20^th in the national rankings. 

They have an appealing point spread for their margin of victory. They currently average 81.8 points and allow 69.9 points per game from their opponents. At this rate, they have a good chance at success and offer a little more flexibility if their offense can stay aggressive.

The betting odds have been provided by MyBookie, which reveal the BYU Cougars as favorites to succeed with a 9.5-point spread. In addition to their odds, market analysis shows they have an 82.8 percent probability of winning. The Cougars have quality stats on both ends of the floor to give them the advantage here.