The NCAAB season continues this weekend in the Big 12 as the Houston Cougars travel to take on the Texas Tech Red Raiders, with both teams looking to continue their good form.
The Cougars come into the game in fantastic form and have a 17-1 record for the season so far, while the Red Raiders have overcome a recent rocky patch and come into this game with a 15-4 record for the campaign.
We’ll take a look at the matchup between the two sides and provide you with our best free NCAAB betting picks to try and earn you some extra cash, while you enjoy the action on the court.
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Texas Tech started their season with dominant back-to-back wins over the Lindenwood Lions (98-60) and Sam Houston Bearkats (98-77), before they fell to their first defeat of the campaign against the number 14-ranked Illinois Fighting Illi (77-81).
The team then claimed consecutive wins once again in their next two games against Milwaukee Panthers and Wake Forest Demon Deacons, before once again falling to a defeat against number one-ranked Purdue Boilermakers.
The Raiders finally went on a three-game winning streak after that, defeating New Orleans, Wyoming and LSU, before they fell to a third defeat of the season against the number 17-ranked Arkansas Razorbacks. That was followed up by three more wins, which saw them end the non-conference regular season with a 10-3 record.
The Big 12 campaign began after that, and Texas Tech picked up an opening game win over Oklahoma State in a blowout 102-80 victory. These two teams then met in the second game, and Houston claimed a hard-fought 69-65 win, but since then the Raiders have claimed four consecutive wins against Colorado, Utah, BYU and Baylor.
Houston started their season with sensational form and consistency, picking up six wins on the bounce to overcome all of Lehigh Mountain Hawks (75-57), Towson Tigers (65-48), Oakland Golden Grizzlies (78-45), number 22-ranked Auburn Tigers (73-72), Rider Broncs (91-45), and Syracuse Orange (78-74 OT).
Their first defeat of the season came against the number 17-ranked Tennessee Volunteers, but since then they have been absolutely unstoppable, racking up six consecutive wins in the non-conference regular season, before following that up with five consecutive wins in the Big 12 so far.
The Cougars finished out the non-conference season with comfortable victories against Notre Dame, Florida State, Jackson State, New Orleans, number 14-ranked Arkansas, and Middle Tennessee.
After moving into the Big 12 portion of the season, Houston picked up wins against Cincinnati Bearcats, Texas Tech, Baylor, West Virginia and Arizona State, and the team have racked up a sensational 17-1 record across the season so far.
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The Cougars and the Red Raiders are set to go head-to-head in the Big 12 for the second time in just a few weeks, and it makes for a very interesting matchup.
On paper, it’s Texas Tech who are the better team despite their worse season record. Offensively, the team are ranked 54th in the country for points scored, with an average of 83.84 points per game. They also have a 47.29 field goal percentage, ranking them 81st in the nation, and a 39.06 three-point percentage, which ranks them 12th across the NCAAB.
Their opponents may be unbeaten in the Big 12 this season, but Houston ranks just 136th for offense with their 78.87 points scored per game average, plus a 44.95 field-goal percentage, which ranks 210th, and a three-point percentage of 34.16, which ranks 186th.
Defensively, Texas are superior too, ranking second in the country for points allowed per game (60.06) compared to Houston, who rank 170th with an average of 73.11 points allowed per game.
But when the two teams met recently, it was Houston who were better on the court, and individually they got the better of their opponents throughout the game. Their last ten games against each other have been fairly evenly split, with Houston winning six. But all the stats point to a close game, and there is great value in taking Texas to get revenge and claim victory.
While backing Houston would be the easy thing to do, the odds of -309 aren’t the most appealing. Taking Texas to cover the points spread at -110 is very tempting, but taking them to win at this price is just too good to ignore, especially at home, and that is our pick for the game.
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About the Author
Daniel is a football writer who has a great thirst for the Premier League and other major European leagues. A lover of the beautiful game and a firm believer that the eye test is better than statistics. Also an avid MMA fan.
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