Free College Basketball Picks: Baylor at Texas Tech Odds
by George Monroy - 1/14/2014
The No. 12 Baylor Bears have only two losses on the season, one to the then-No. 8 Syracuse Orange and the other to the No. 9 Iowa State Cyclones. The team, however, will face the toughest stretch of its schedule when it faces five ranked schools over the next month. Baylor will play the highly-regarded Kansas Jayhawks twice during that span to go along with games against Oklahoma and Oklahoma State. The Bears must first hit the road to face Texas Tech on Wednesday night before any of those high-profile matchups happen.
The Texas Tech Red Raiders are currently ranked ninth in the Big 12 Conference with an 8-8 overall record and 0-3 conference mark. The team has lost three straight games but was competitive in two of them and even sent its matchup against West Virginia into overtime last Monday. Let’s take a closer look at the upcoming Baylor versus Texas Tech game with predictions and analysis.
Baylor at Texas Tech Betting Story Lines
Baylor is coming off a 26-point blowout of TCU on Saturday. Sophomore Taurean Prince had an excellent night off the bench, scoring 23 points on 8-of-10 shooting and grabbing four rebounds in 20 minutes of action. Overall, Prince has averaged 8.3 points and 3.5 rebounds for the Bears this season, and he is becoming increasingly comfortable with his role as a sixth-man for the team. Baylor has four double-digit scorers to go along with the productive Prince and is receiving 13.5 points and 8.8 rebounds from its senior forward Cory Jefferson.
The Bears shoot .491 from the field (16th in the nation), produce 16.3 assists per game and grab 41 rebounds, which is ranked 21st and 14th in the nation, respectively. Baylor, however, has struggled to cover spreads and currently sits on a 4-5 record against its nine posted lines. The team has covered two of its last three spreads, but it went three weeks with lines that were off the board.
Texas Tech is in the middle of three straight Big 12 Conference losses and is coming off a close road loss to the Texas Longhorns on Saturday. The Raider Raiders had a chance to steal the game, but a last-second jumper couldn’t find the rim at the end of the regulation. Texas Tech had two 19-point performances from forward, Jaye Crockett and guard Robert Turner, but poor 3-point shooting and a couple of missed free throws prevented the team from picking up its first conference victory of the season.
The squad is being led by Crockett’s 14.4 points and 6.3 rebounds per game to go along with solid production from junior Jordan Tolbert, who averages 12.4 points and 6.8 rebounds for the Red Raiders. Overall, Texas Tech averages only 73.7 points per game, which is ranked 145th in the nation, and grabs 34.3 rebounds per game, which is good for a 233rd ranking.
Baylor at Texas Tech NCAA Betting Odds and Key Trends
Baylor opened as a four-point favorite over the underdog Red Raiders at BetOnline. Baylor is 5-2 ATS over its last seven Wednesday games but only 2-5 ATS over its last seven road games. The team is also 2-5 ATS over its last seven road games against teams with winning home records and 1-4 ATS during its last five matchups following a SU win. Texas Tech is 7-2 ATS in its last nine home games and 6-2 ATS over its last eight games following a SU loss. Head-to-head, the “over” its 7-2-1 during the last 10 games at Texas Tech, while the favorite has covered in six of the last eight matchups. Baylor has also covered in six of the last eight overall meetings.
Free College Basketball Picks: Baylor at Texas Tech Predictions
Baylor has one of the best shooting percentages in the nation and can score from any part of the floor. The Bears are also excellent from the 3-point line and should be able to overwhelm a struggling Texas Tech squad that may find it difficult to put points on the board Wednesday night. Baylor is an excellent rebounding team, and those extra possessions and second-chance points will probably begin to add up as the game wears on. Take Baylor minus the points—Texas Tech has problems that won’t be fixed in one game.
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