The 9-seed Texas A&M Aggies will face the 8-seed Nebraska Cornhuskers in the South Region of the 2024 NCAA Tournament on Friday evening in Memphis, Tennessee, at the FedExForum. The game will start at 6:50 PM ET and air on TNT.

Entering the SEC Tournament, the Texas A&M Aggies were on the bubble after finishing the regular season with a record of 20-14 and in 7^th place in the SEC Conference with a record of 9-9 in conference play. 

The Aggies had an impressive showing in the tournament. They advanced to the SEC Tournament Semifinals after beating the Ole Miss Rebels 80-71 in the 2^nd round of the SEC Tournament and the Kentucky Wildcats by a score of 97-87 in the SEC Quarterfinals and led the Florida Gators 50-42 at halftime in the SEC Semifinals, however, after a sluggish start to the 2^nd half in which their only points in the first five minutes of the half came via the free throw line, the Aggies would relinquish the lead before ultimately losing the game to the Florida Gators by a score of 90-85. The Aggies have shot the ball well over their last four games and are averaging 88.25 points per game during that stretch. 

Texas A&M will look to continue its offensive momentum when it plays the Nebraska Cornhuskers in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

The Nebraska Cornhuskers had an impressive regular season after finishing in 3^rd place in the Big Ten Conference with a conference record of 12-8 and an overall record of 23-10. 

Nebraska advanced to the Big Ten Conference Tournament Semifinals after defeating the Indiana Hoosiers by a score of 93-66 in the Big Ten Quarterfinals but would lose to the Illinois Fighting Illini by a score of 87-98 in a game they blew an 11-point lead at halftime after allowing Illinois to go on a 10-0 run starting at the 16:53 mark in the 2^nd half. The Cornhuskers, like the Aggies, have also relied on their offensive play over their last three games and enter this game averaging 88.33 points per game during that stretch. 

Nebraska has also played well defensively over its last nine games, as it only allowed an average of 66.78 points per game during that stretch and has won seven of its previous nine games. This will be the first time since the 2014 NCAA Tournament that the Nebraska Cornhuskers will play in the NCAA Tournament and their eighth overall. 

However, the Cornhuskers have yet to advance past the round of 64 in any of their previous NCAA Tournament appearances. Nebraska will look to advance to the 2^nd round with a win over the Texas A&M Aggies on Friday evening.

WagerWeb has the Nebraska Cornhuskers listed as 1-point favorites against the Texas A&M Aggies in the 1^st round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday evening. This will be the first meeting between the two former programs of the Big 12 Conference since the 2010-11 college basketball season, in which the Cornhuskers defeated the Aggies by a score of 57-48 at home.

Both teams are playing well offensively. However, Nebraska is playing better defensively compared to Texas A&M, as they have only allowed an average of 66.78 points per game over their last nine games. I look for their defensive play to be key to the win in the matchup against the Aggies, so I am taking the moneyline for the Nebraska Cornhuskers when they face the Texas A&M Aggies on Friday evening.