Texas Tech at Texas

We were on Syracuse yesterday as 12 point dogs to UCONN and they won the game outright. We were also on Tulane as a big dog to Memphis and got that one too. See a pattern here? Today we look to another big dog facing an elite team. When you think of Texas the thoughts that may come to mind are "blow out." They have been dominating a number of teams but the thing you must remember is that these games were all at home. Texas Tech is coming off an upset win over Kansas State and has played great basketball away from home. They aren't scoring much less away (62ppg) and are shooting about the same from the floor. On the other hand, Texas is scoring about 10ppg less when away (67ppg) and that is directly related to their decrease in shot percentage when away. Bobby Knight is one of the best coaches in basketball and he knows two things going into the game tonight. First, he cannot run the floor with Texas and get into a shoot out. And secondly, his bench is deeper and he must use that to his advantage. Look for Coach Knight to play strong defense getting everyone on the floor tired and using the bench to his advantage. Also expect this game to be lower scoring and kept within reach as Coach Knight knows he just wants to see the light at the end of the tunnel meaning he wants it within a few shots as the game comes to an end and it lets him put the plays in motion to give his ball club a chance to win. With a strong defensive and lower scoring game, this is far too many points for a team like Texas to give. This one will stay close and as a result, I'm backing Tech for two stars.