Texas Tech vs #1 Baylor Odds, Preview and Analysis College Basketball

#19 Texas Tech vs #1 Baylor | Odds, Preview and Analysis College Basketball

No question the marquee game around college basketball on Tuesday is unbeaten and No. 1 Baylor with a major home test in Big 12 action against No. 19 Texas Tech. The Bears are solid favorites on the NCAAB odds.

How to Bet Texas Tech at Baylor NCAA Basketball Odds & TV Info

  • When: Tuesday, 7 PM ET
  • Where: Ferrell Center, Waco
  • TV: ESPN2
  • Stream: ESPN app
  • Radio: Tunein.com
  • Opening NCAAB Lines: Baylor -12 (total 135)

Last Season

Baylor won both matchups with TTU last season. The one in Waco was 88-73. The Bears’ MaCio Teague (no longer in school) scored 35 points while matching a school record with 10 made 3-pointers. While never trailing, the Bears didn’t take control for good until a 16-3 run in the second half when Teague scored 12 of those points. Jared Butler scored 18 points and Davion Mitchell 17 for Baylor. Kyler Edwards had 18 points for Texas Tech. Kevin McCullar and Terrence Shannon Jr. both had 11.

Tech owns an 80-62 all-time advantage in the series that dates back to 1937, but Baylor has won four in a row overall and five straight in Waco.

Why Bet on Texas Tech?

The Red Raiders (11-3) knocked off No. 6 Kansas on Saturday in Lubbock, 75-67. Bryson Williams went for 22 points and eight rebounds while Clarence Nadolny scored a career-high 17 points. TTU earned its 26th win over a top-10 opponent in program history, beat a top-10 opponent for the eighth straight season and knocked off a top-10 Kansas team for the fifth time. Tech, which snapped a four-game losing streak to KU, led 33-25 at halftime, by as many as 14 in the second half and held the Jayhawks to a season-low in scoring and 17 points below their season average.

A junior from France, Nadolny is in his third season at Tech and came into the game averaging 3.4 points per game this season and 2.2 in his career. Williams played two seasons at Fresno State and two at UTEP before transferring to Tech over the summer to utilize a fifth season of eligibility.

Mylik Wilson had missed the past five games after minor knee surgery but returned to lead Tech with five assists in the win over Kansas. He also added five points and four rebounds in his Big 12 debut – playing 23 minutes in his return. He leads Tech with a 3.4 assist-to-turnover ratio with 31 assists and only nine turnovers.

Terrence Shannon, Jr. and Kevin McCullar remained unavailable for the Red Raiders due to injury. They are the team’s leading scorers and are game-time decisions Tuesday. TTU finished the Kansas game shooting 50.9 percent from the field, had an assist on 18 of 28 made baskets and won by eight despite hitting six fewer 3-pointer in the game.

Tech comes into Tuesday’s matchup 1-7 all-time against No. 1-ranked opponents with a 70-57 win over Louisville on Dec. 10, 2019 in the Jimmy V Classic being the only win.

Why Bet on Baylor?

Baylor is on a 21-game winning streak that dates back to last season where it won the 2021 National Championship.  The Bears beat TCU 76-64 on Saturday in Fort Worth. Overcoming its largest deficit of the season, Baylor used a 17-0 second-half run and rode the hot hands of Adam Flagler, James Akinjo and LJ Cryer to avoid the upset and remain one of just two remaining undefeated teams in the country (USC). Eight seconds into the second half, Chuck O’Banion drained a 3-pointer that gave TCU its biggest lead of the game, 40-31.

Leading the nation in offensive rebounds, the Horned Frogs scored eight second-chance points off 12 offensive rebounds and won a tight battle of the boards, 32-28. But Baylor shot 52.6% from the floor (30-of-57), 48.1% from 3-point range (13-of-27) and scored 26 points off TCU’s 18 turnovers.

Flagler rallied Baylor with 18 of his 22 points in the second half, and the Bears pulled within two of their own Big 12 record for consecutive victories. Akinjo had 20 points and eight assists. Flagler was named the Big 12 Player of the Week while Akinjo was named the Big 12 Newcomer of the Week. For the week, Flagler hit 8-of-14 three-point attempts (57.1%) and 16-of-27 field goal attempts (59.3%) overall. Akinjo leads Baylor with 14.4 points per game, 92 assists and 33 steals. A transfer from Arizona, Akinjo is averaging 21.0 points through three Big 12 games.

BU is top-20 nationally in scoring offense (12th) and defense (18th). No other team is top-30 in both.  Baylor ranks top-15 nationally in scoring margin (2nd, +24.1), assists (7th, 18.6), turnovers forced (11th, 18.4), rebounding margin (11th, +10.3), steals (13th, 10.3), offensive rebounds (13th, 14.0), field goal percentage (13th, .493) and turnover margin (14th, +5.6).

The Bears are 9-0 on their home court this season coming into the first match against the Red Raiders who are 0-2 in true road games. There have been four winning streaks of 20+ in the Big 12’s 26-year history – 23 by Baylor in 2019-20, 22 by Kansas in 1997-98, 21 by Baylor currently and 20 by Kansas in 2007-08.

Expert Prediction

  • Baylor 68, Texas Tech 58

 

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