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The Texas Southern Tigers take on the Texas Tech Red Raiders. Check out our college basketball odds series for our Texas Southern Texas Tech prediction and pick.
The Texas Tech Red Raiders have made themselves nationally relevant as a program. The school which reached the 2019 NCAA Tournament national championship game and lost an overtime thriller to Virginia has remained a force in the college basketball world. Chris Beard, the coach who guided Texas Tech to that 2019 title game, left and went to rival Texas, so the Red Raiders promoted assistant coach Mark Adams to the top job. He was an assistant to Beard on the 2019 team. Given how well Texas Tech played in 2022, particularly on defense, it's very reasonable to say that Adams had just as much of a role in shaping the 2019 team as Beard did. Texas Tech fans feel great about the state of the program under Adams, and they should. The Red Raiders made the Sweet 16 at the 2022 NCAA Tournament before losing to Duke and Mike Kyrzyzewski in Coach K's last March Madness ride. They will try to replicate last season's success and continue their forward momentum as a program.
Texas Tech started the season on Monday with a 73-49 win over Northwestern State. Defense was naturally on display. Texas Tech held Northwestern State to under 29-percent shooting from the field. The win was not without causes for concern, however: Texas Tech committed 20 turnovers. It was only the season opener, so one should expect the Red Raiders to become more polished and precise as they continue with their season, but they certainly can't afford to be that casual with the ball in future games against better teams.
Texas Southern won the SWAC Tournament championship and went back to the NCAA Tournament last season. Johnny Jones, who struggled as the head coach of LSU, has found a home in mid-major college basketball. He guided Texas Southern to a win in the First Four. The Tigers' season ultimately ended against eventual national champion Kansas in the first round of March Madness. Texas Southern has been a consistently strong SWAC program under Jones, who will try to keep the train rolling this season.
Courtesy of FanDuel, here are the Texas Southern-Texas Tech College Basketball odds.
College Basketball Odds: Texas Southern-Texas Tech Odds
Texas Southern Tigers: +18.5 (-110)
Texas Tech Red Raiders: -18.5 (-110)
Over: 137.5 (-110)
Under: 137.5 (-110)
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Why Texas Southern Could Cover the Spread
This is a good team which is used to winning. Texas Southern is robustly competitive and has players who know how to get the job done. Texas Tech committing 20 turnovers against Northwestern State — a team which went 9-23 last season and struggled to win games in the Southland Conference — offers an early indication that the Red Raiders' offense will need some time to evolve. Texas Southern, early in the season, can definitely keep this game close.
Why Texas Tech Could Cover the Spread
The Red Raiders don't need great offense to blow teams out. We saw that against Northwestern State. They committed 20 turnovers and still won by 24 points because they locked down their opponent. That can happen in this game as well. No one would be hugely surprised if Tech won by a 63-43 score. That would be enough to cover the spread.
Final Texas Southern-Texas Tech Prediction & Pick
This game figures to be a defensive grinder, which plays into the under as well as a Texas Southern cover.
Final Texas Southern-Texas Tech Prediction & Pick: Texas Southern +18.5, under 137.5
