Will Baylor Respond After Rare Loss?

The Baylor Bears are the defending national champions, but they didn’t look the part this past Tuesday night in a stunning home-court loss to Texas Tech. Many who bet online were surprised.

Is this an indication of real slippage for the Bears, or was that a one-game aberration? We might get some answers to that question on Saturday, when Baylor plays host to Oklahoma State in Waco.

Let’s take a closer look at this college basketball betting matchup and determine which way to go in the sportsbook.

Game: Oklahoma State (8-7) at Baylor (15-1)

Location: Ferrell Center – Waco, TX

Day/Time: Saturday, 5 p.m. ET

Television: ESPN

Oklahoma State Cowboys at Baylor Bears

Cowboys Have Seen How Tough Big 12 Can Be

The Cowboys have been thrown straight into the fire in Big 12 play. They already had to play Kansas. They have already made the tough road trip to West Virginia.

They have already played a red-hot Texas Tech team, the same team which just upset Baylor. Going through these battles has not yielded good results.

Oklahoma State lost all three of those games against KU, WVU, and Texas Tech. However, playing tough teams is the only way a team learns how to get better.

Is this the game in which the Cowboys will improve? Keep in mind that Oklahoma State is ineligible for the 2022 NCAA Tournament.

The Cowboys have absolutely nothing to lose, and taking down the defending champions could be their Super Bowl for the season. Maybe the Cowboys and coach Mike Boynton are on the verge of putting it all together.

They won’t be favored. In fact, they will be expected to lose big. However, this has been a crazy college basketball season.

Seemingly every day, an underdog of seven points or more wins at least once in some corner of the country. Will OSU be that team on Saturday?

Now We Find Out What the Bears Are

Well, well, well. Baylor, the last unbeaten team remaining in college basketball, ran out of magic and inspiration. The 15-0 Bears were ambushed at home by a Texas Tech team that is on a big-time roll.

Texas Tech had beaten Kansas over the weekend. The Red Raiders carried that into Tuesday’s game in Waco and shocked the Bears on their home floor. Baylor scored just 62 points.

Its offense ran into a buzzsaw. Texas Tech, which had scored just 47 points a week ago in a loss to Iowa State, managed to score just enough to carve out a 65-62 victory, which left Baylor dazed and confused.

Baylor rarely lost last season, and it hadn’t lost a game since March 12, 2021, in the semifinals of the Big 12 Tournament against Oklahoma State.

Baylor had won 21 games in a row, 22 in a row at home, before this loss to Texas Tech. Everyone in America will eagerly want to see how Baylor reacts.

Will Oklahoma State stay in the fight?

The Cowboys were blown out at Texas Tech. Were they looking ahead to this Baylor game, or is OSU simply a very flawed team with little motivation given its inability to participate in the NCAA Tournament?

Baylor is going to win and is the better choice for college basketball picks, but the question is whether OSU can push the Bears for 40 minutes.

Parlay: Baylor & Under

Pick: Under

Pick: Baylor