The No. 5 seed Clemson Tigers and the No. 11 seed McNeese Cowboys will battle in the first round of the 2025 NCAA Tournament on Thursday. The Cowboys are winners of the Southland Conference and have secured 11 straight wins. Meanwhile, Clemson has won nine of their last 10 outings. Both teams have made the tournament for two consecutive years. 

Tip-off from the Amica Mutual Pavilion in Providence, Rhode Island, is set for 3:15 p.m. ET. Clemson is a 7.5-point favorite in the latest McNeese vs. Clemson odds from SportsLine consensus, while the over/under for total points scored is 135.5.

Before making any McNeese vs. Clemson picks, check out the college basketball predictions from the SportsLine Projection Model.

The model simulates every Division 1 college basketball game 10,000 times. It enters the 2025 NCAA Tournament on a 228-166 roll (+2025) on all top-rated college basketball picks dating back to 2023. This model has also produced brackets that have beaten over 91% of CBS Sports entries in four of the last six tournaments and nailed 24 first-round upsets by double-digit seeds! Anyone following could have seen HUGE returns!

The model has simulated McNeese vs. Clemson 10,000 times and the results are in. We can tell you that the model is leaning Over, and it also says one side of the spread hits in over 70% of simulations!

So who wins McNeese vs. Clemson, and which side of the spread hits in over 70% of simulations? Join SportsLine right now to see which side of the spread you need to jump on, all from the computer model that is 228-166 (+2025) on top-rated college basketball pick and has nailed 24 double-digit upsets!