COLLEGE FREE PICK – SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2010
#15 Texas Longhorns (20-6) vs. Texas Tech Red Raiders (16-9)
The No. 16 Texas Longhorns will make the short trip to Lubbock, Texas to tip off against the Texas Tech Red Raiders in a Big 12 contest at the United Spirit Arena on Saturday.
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The last time these two teams tangled the then-No. 6 Longhorns downed the Red Raiders 95-83 back on Jan 27. Texas leads the all-time series 71-53.
Less than six weeks ago, the Longhorns were the nation’s No 1 team, but have fallen off the rails dropping to No. 5, losing four of their last six including an 82-77 loss at Missouri on Wednesday. Senior forward Jordan Hamilton led the Longhorns with 24 points off the bench while Damion James, who is averaging a team-high 17.8 points and a conference-best 10.8 rebounds, added 18 points and 11 rebounds in the loss. The Longhorns committed 18 turnovers and made just 46.2 percent of their shots compared to 43.1 percent for Missouri in the contest. To compound Texas’ problems 6-foot-10 senior center Dexter Pittman has disappeared from atop of the stats list during the recent slide, and had no shots against Missouri. Despite those statistics the Longhorns still remain the nation’s third highest-scoring team.
In the meantime, the Red Raiders lost to the No. 22 Baylor Bears 88-70 on Tuesday night. David Tairu had 16 points while top offensive threat John Roberson had 12 points before leaving the game with sore ribs with less than 10 minutes remaining, after running into a television cameraman. Roberson hit a season-high five 3s and scored 27 points in last month’s loss to the Longhorns. If Robertson is not cleared for Saturdays game it could add a ton of pressure to forward Mike Singletary, who is averaging team highs with 15.3 points and 6.6 rebounds, to shoulder the offensive load.
The odds makers have the Longhorns as –6-point favorites in this one.
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Each of the Red Raiders’ three Big 12 wins came at the United Spirit Arena. Home has long been a haven for Texas Tech and this season is no different. The Longhorns desperately need to get a win.
I expect the Longhorns to bounce back both defensively and offensively after their loss to Missouri taking this one on the road by at least five.
- Texas is 2-11 ATS in its last 13 games
- Texas is 19-6 SU in its last 25 games
- Texas is 2-4 SU in its last 6 games
- The total has gone OVER in 6 of Texas’s last 8 games
- Texas Tech is 2-4 SU in its last 6 games
- The total has gone OVER in 4 of Texas Tech’s last 6 games
- Texas Tech is 4-2 ATS in its last 6 games at home
- Texas Tech is 14-2 SU in its last 16 games at home
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