The Texas Tech Red Raiders got off to a rough start in the Big 12 this season, but they have been coming on a bit lately. Still, they have quite a bit of work to do if they have any hope of getting into the NCAA tournament.
BetOnline customers know that they could take a huge step, if they can defeat the Kansas Jayhawks, one of the elite teams in the nation. But obviously, that’s a tall order, as Kansas has won six games in a row.
These teams will battle on Tuesday night at 9 PM Eastern time at the Allen Fieldhouse in Lawrence, Kansas.
Texas Tech is coached by Mark Adams, who has been around the block once, or twice, to say the least. He succeeded Chris Beard in the hea, job last season, as Beard moved on to the University of Texas. He had been one of Beard's assistants. Adams, however, had last coached at the D-I level back in 1997 with Texas Pan American. In the meantime, he had been the owner of a minor-league hockey team, and also won a national championship at the junior college level. Last season, Adams led Texas Tech to 27 wins. This year, the Red Raiders ar struggling a bit ate 16–13, and have won only five of 16 games in the Big 12 conference, which is admittedly a brutal place to play.
But this team has rallied a little, beating Iowa State, Kansas State, Texas, and West Virginia of late. All of those wins came since 6–11 Far was Aimaq got back into the lineup. Aimaq has scored 19 points of in each of his last two games.
Last time out, Texas Tech lost an 83–82 decision to TCU, and thus they missed out on something that would have boosted their a-llarge tournament hopes. But it just might be a matter of them losing the numbers game in the Big 12, which is arguably the best conference in all of college basketball.
In the college basketball betting odds posted on this game by the folks at BetOnline, Kansas is actually the favorite in this game:
Kansas Jayhawks -8
Texas Tech Red Raiders +8
Over 147.5 points -110
Under 147.5 points -110
Kansas, the defending national champions, have to be considered a team with a real shot to go back to the Final Four. They are currently 24–5, with a 12–4 record in the conference. And they have won six games in a row. This is not necessarily an offensive machine, ranking just 65th in the country in Effective field-goal percentage, and they don’t do a great job getting to the free-throw line. This is not a deep rotation, either, as only a couple of teams in the nation employ fewer minutes from their bench. So if there are some things that might work against The Jayhawks in their quest for a repeat, it’s those.
But Kansas is ninth in the nation in adjusted defensive efficiency, and so they will present something of a challenge to Texas Tech, which has propelle its recent winning ways by hitting 44.3% from beyond the three point arc over their last four contests. Another place where the Red Raiders are vulnerable is in ball security, as they are one of the lesser teams in the Big 12 in taking care of the basketball.
Kansas has one of the better players in the country in 6–8 forward Jalen Wilson, although in the current six game winning streak, he has averaged only 12.2 points per game. So maybe that speaks to the balance of Kansas.
These teams met on January 3 in Lubbock, and Kansas came away with a 75–72 victory. and they did this despite making only two free throws. Kevin Ebanor, who was once a very high scoring star at Oral Roberts, had 26 points in that game, his high as a Red Raider. He may be the guy Kansas has to stop.
These are a lot of points to lay, and Texas Tech is the team playing with a little more desperation. With Aimaq in the lineup again, there’s some more scoring punch aned more size. And that may be enough to take advantage of the hefty impost. So we will take the points.
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