The Arkansas basketball team plays its first official game of the 2021-22 college basketball season tonight against Mercer.
Arkansas is no stranger to Mercer, a team hailing from Macon, Ga. and competing as a member of the Southern Conference. They’ve played each other five times since 1980, according to College Basketball Reference.
The Hogs are 4-1 all-time against the Bears, with the lone loss coming in the 2015-2016 season when the Bears got the best of the Razorbacks 66-69.
Arkansas enters the game ranked No. 16 in the AP Top 25 college basketball rankings. Let’s take a look at some of the betting odds and how you can watch the game.
Arkansas Razorbacks vs Mercer Odds: Line, Spread, Over/Under
As expected, the Hogs are favored in this non-conference match-up, according to the latest odds from WynnBet.
Spread: Arkansas is -19.0
Moneyline: -1750
Over/Under: 150.5
The Hogs are favored to win and win by 19 or more points against Mercer. The odds-makers at Wynn have set the total points line at 150.5.
So, to win your bet you’d have to decide if there will be 151 total points scored between the two teams (the over) or if there will be 150 total points scored (the under).
If you like the Hogs to win straight-up, you can bet the moneyline, but they are heavy favorites. You’d have to wager $1,750 to win $100, $175 to win $10 or $17.50 to win $1.00.
Arkansas Razorbacks vs Mercer Prediction Tonight
The Hogs have already played in two exhibition games to start the season, winning both games in close fashion.
The Razorbacks escaped division-II opponent East Central (Okla.) 77-74 and came away with a win against North Texas 68-60.
With this being the first official game of the season, and the Hogs having some trouble in their exhibition games, it might be wise to pick Mercer to cover the spread (+19.0).
The Hogs should win this game, but it likely that it’ll be closer than 19 points by the time the final buzzer sounds.
With several new faces on the team and Mercer being hungry to embarrass an SEC team it has all the trappings of being a closer-than-expected game.
Expect Chris Lykes to play with a chip on his shoulder as he is going to have to play his way into the starting lineup and earn Head Coach Eric Musselman’s trust before being handed the keys to the offense.
What Channel is the Arkansas basketball Game On?
The Arkansas basketball game is being broadcast live on ESPN+, which is a subscription-based offering from ESPN located inside the ESPN app.