Day 2 of the Round of 64 will tip off on Friday afternoon when the 9-seed Northwestern Wildcats face the 8-seed Florida Atlantic Owls in the East Region. The game will take place in Brooklyn, New York, at the Barclays Center and tip off at 12:15 PM ET on CBS.

The Northwestern Wildcats will be playing in their 2^nd consecutive NCAA tournament and their 3^rd overall after finishing in a tie with the Nebraska Cornhuskers for 3^rd place in the Big Ten Conference. 

However, the Wildcats were eliminated in their first Big Ten Conference Tournament game on Friday in the Quarterfinals against the Wisconsin Badgers by a score of 61-70, which was their third loss in their last four games. The Wildcats struggled down the stretch of the regular season, losing on the road against the Michigan State Spartans by a score of 49-53 and at home against the Iowa Hawkeyes by a score of 80-87. 

In Northwestern’s only other two appearances in the NCAA Tournament, they won their 1^st round matchup with wins coming against the Vanderbilt Commodores by a score of 68-66 in the 2017 NCAA Tournament and last season against the Boise State Broncos by a score of 75-67. The Wildcats will face a team that advanced to the Final Four last season, the Florida Atlantic Owls, in their first game of the 2024 NCAA Tournament.

Last season’s Cinderella team in the NCAA Tournament received an at-large bid to the 2024 NCAA Tournament after finishing with an overall record of 25-8 and 2^nd place in the American Athletic Conference with a conference record of 14-4. This will be the 2^nd consecutive season and only the 3^rd time overall that the Florida Atlantic Owls will play in the NCAA Tournament. The Owls advanced to the Final Four in their 2^nd NCAA Tournament appearance in school history last year with wins over the Memphis Tigers by a score of 66-65, the Fairleigh Dickinson Knights in the 2^nd Round by a score of 75-70, the Tennessee Vols in the Sweet 16 by a score of 62-55, and the Kansas State Wildcats in the Elite Eight by a score of 79-76 before losing to the San Diego State Aztecs in the Final Four by a score of 71-72. Florida Atlantic was eliminated in the American Athletic Conference Semifinals against the Temple Owls by a score of 73-74 on Saturday, ending their four-game winning streak. The Florida Atlantic Owls will look to advance to the Round of 32 with a win over the Northwestern Wildcats on Friday afternoon.

BetOnline has the FAU Owls listed as 2.5-point favorites against the Northwestern Wildcats in the Round of 64 of the 2024 NCAA Tournament on Friday afternoon. This will only be the 2^nd time in program history that the Northwestern Wildcats and the Florida Atlantic Owls will face each other in college basketball and the first time since the 2005-06 season, with the last meeting resulting in a 69-59 win at home for the Northwestern Wildcats.

Northwestern won in the Round of 64 in their NCAA Tournament Appearances, while Florida Atlantic was a Final Four team last season. Florida Atlantic blew a double-digit lead against the Temple Owls in the American Athletic Conference Tournament Semifinals on Saturday. 

At the same time, Northwestern didn’t win a game in the Big Ten Tournament and has lost three of their last four games. As a result, I am buying the .5 point and laying the points with the Florida Atlantic Owls when they face the Northwestern Wildcats in the Round of 64 on Friday afternoon.