The top matchup on Tuesday’s slate of college basketball games pits the No. 11 Memphis Tigers against the No. 7 Oklahoma State Cowboys in the Old Spice Classic at Gallagher-Iba Arena. Tipoff is scheduled for 8 p.m. (ET), and the game will be broadcast nationally on ESPN.

The Tigers have taken a very leisurely start to the new season with just one previous game on the schedule heading into this early season showdown. This past Thursday they rolled over Austin Peay 95-69 as 21.5-point home favorites. There was no total line posted for this game.

Oklahoma State has been a bit busier with a successful 3-0 straight up start in which they have won all three games by 30 or more points. There were no posted lines against any of the teams they faced in what basically amounted to a few brisk scrimmages.
 
Memphis at Oklahoma State Betting Storylines

Memphis is coming off a successful 31-5 campaign last season that ended with a 70-48 loss to Michigan State in the third round of the NCAA Tournament. They went a perfect 16-0 in Conference USA, but this season they make the switch to the newly-formed American Athletic Conference, which is primarily made up of teams from the Big East and its old conference.

The Tigers will have a few familiar faces back from that squad, including senior guards Joe Jackson and Michael Dixon Jr. Jackson led the team in scoring in their first game with 16 points, but Dixon was a close second with 15. A player to watch this Tuesday night is freshman guard/forward Nick King, who added 13 points and five rebounds in the victory over the Governors. Geron Johnson was the leading rebounder with 10 of Memphis’ 50 rebounds.

The Cowboys fell to Oregon 68-55 in their first and only game in last year’s NCAA Tournament to finish 24-9 on the year that included a 13-5 record in the Big 12. So far this season they have averaged 102.3 points in their first three romps, which is the fourth-highest total in the nation. They shot 53.2 percent from the field and 45.6 percent from three-point range in those three contests.

The big horses behind these Cowboys are Phil Forte, Markel Brown and Le’Bryan Nash. Forte is averaging 21 points a game while shooting 70.4 percent from the floor, and Brown is kicking in another 15.3 points and team-high 3.7 assists a game. Nash has been the team’s leading rebounder with 6.3 a game. Along with Marcus Smart, he is one of two players averaging 13.7 points a game. Oklahoma State has proven to be deep with scorers so far with six different players averaging double-digits.

Memphis at Oklahoma State College Basketball Odds with Betting Tends and Futures Odds

BetOnline has opened the Cowboys as six-point home favorites for Tuesday night, with the total still off the board.

The Tigers are 5-2 ATS in their last seven nonconference games but just 1-4 ATS in their last five games on the road. The total has stayed “under” in five of their last six road games.

The Cowboys are 1-6-1 ATS in their last eight home games, but 7-3-1 ATS in their last 11 games outside the conference. The total has stayed under in 24 of their last 33 nonconference games.

The last time these two teams met was in the 2004 NCAA Tournament, with Oklahoma State coming away with a 70-53 victory as a 6.5-point favorite. The total stayed under the 137-point line.

Free College Basketball Picks: Memphis at Oklahoma State Betting Predictions

We have not gotten all that much insight into just how good each of these teams really are from their initial games, but I like Oklahoma State’s depth in scoring to give them the slight edge in this matchup. Playing this game at home will also loom big in the outcome, but while I see the Cowboys winning this game SU, I love Memphis and the six points in what should be a two- or three-point contest at the most.

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