Grab The Points In Big 12 Battle

Texas Tech vs. Baylor, 9:00 ET 

This week is going to be dominated by the Super Bowl, and rightly so. But, before we get to that big game and lose focus on the rest of the opportunities to make some money this week, let's go back to this college basketball well and wet our beaks with a play. We've had one bad college basketball week this season and the rest have been very solid. I hope that we can continue to keep rolling in college basketball with a play between Texas Tech and Baylor on Tuesday night.

This is the only matchup of the night between ranked opponents as we have #23 Texas Tech taking a road trip to face Baylor. Right now, Texas Tech is 16-5 on the season and sits in second place in the Big 12 with a 5-3 conference record. That doesn't seem to be all that spectacular, and it isn't, but they have to be happy with their chances to start in a good position within the Big 12 tournament. They have stumbled lately as they've dropped three of their past five games including the last two. They fell at TCU last week and they dropped a home game to Cincinnati. They probably should've beaten the Bearcats, but they dropped the game 75-72. In fairness to Cincinnati, they held the lead for the majority of the second half, and the teams just kept trading buckets. The bigger question here is if the Red Raiders are falling apart or is this just a blip on the radar of what will be a successful season? They are a very well-constructed team - they have both athletic and finesse players. They have strong guards and they have solid enough forwards. They rebound by committee and hustle. They turn the ball over a bit much and aren't really great outside shooters, so the fact that they have a 16-5 record is more of a testament to their team success than individual performances. 

Baylor has the same record, and the same conference record as Texas Tech. They currently are ranked #13 in the nation and are entering one of the hardest stretches of their season. Their first two losses came on neutral courts against Michigan State and Duke. The game against Michigan State was a bit strange as they lost by 24 points, but they were competitive against Duke. After running their record to 14-2, they had to face Kansas State and Texas on the road and lost both of those games by a combined six points. They played TCU a little more than a week ago and that game went to triple overtime before they fell 105-102. They've had two games since then, and they were able to beat UCF and Iowa State. They were able to beat the Cyclones, but they won by just two points. All of this is to say that their form hasn't been great lately. I spoke of the depth that the Red Raiders have, but the Bears are pretty close. They have five guys averaging 10+ points per game and another that is on the cusp. They don't do as effective of a job of rebounding, which could cause problems in this one, but they do rebound together. This game might come down to who can make the stop when needed most.  

This probably won't be a defensive battle, but I could see the teams struggling to score. I don't particularly like taking Texas Tech on the road, but I think the right angle here is to take the points. They are getting six right now and given how tight the games have been for Baylor, I can't advise to back them to cover. I do think Baylor wins, so I wouldn't play the money line, but the squads match up rather well so I'll grab the points in this one. 

For more sports betting information and plays, follow David on Twitter: @futureprez2024