Injuries Can’t Slow Texas Tech
While other players in the conference garner more attention, the game features a couple of players on a roll offensively. West Virginia’s Malik Curry has 42 points in the last two games when he was 16-of-16 from the foul line. Texas Tech’s Bryson Williams has scored in double figures in six straight games to take over the team scoring lead.
Texas Tech is one of two Big 12 teams still undefeated at home. This will be only the fourth true road game for West Virginia, which lost two of the previous three.
If West Virginia can stay within striking range perhaps an upset is possible since the Mountaineers are 3-0 in games decided by three points or less.
Texas Tech (+450) has the third-best odds to win the Big 12 title while West Virginia (+3000) is a distant sixth. The Red Raiders (+800) are 11th in the odds to advance to the Final Four.
Game: West Virginia (13-4) at Texas Tech (14-4)
Location: United Supermarkets Arena, Lubbock, Texas
Day/Time: Saturday, January 22, 12 p.m. ET
Television: ESPN2
West Virginia Mountaineers at Texas Tech Red Raiders
No rest for Weary West Virginia
One of the potential drawbacks of playing in perhaps the best basketball conference in the country is the potential to endure a stretch like what West Virginia is currently going through.
West Virginia had back-to-back games against Top-10 opponents. First, the Mountaineers were blown out on the road by Kansas allowing the Jayhawks to connect on 51.4% of their shots and win by 26 points despite West Virginia shooting 19 more foul shots. West Virginia returned home three days later and put forth a much more competitive effort before falling to Baylor 77-68. Once again West Virginia made more trips to the foul line but struggled defensively.
Now comes a third straight matchup against a ranked opponent.
West Virginia is trying to prevent a team from shooting 45% or better against it for the third game this season. which is something that has happened on only one other occasion. The Mountaineers are also -9 in rebounding margin in the last five games, all against Big 12 competition. Those are two numbers not normally associated with a Bob Huggins-coached team.
“You play in a league like this that has really, really good players and terrific coaching and we’re kind of playing with a bunch of bigs that really don’t know our system,” Huggins said after the loss to Baylor. “You look at that crew down there and they’ve been together and that makes a heck of a difference. You look at the really good teams that we’ve had here have been teams that have been together and know each other.”
West Virginia is just 1-4 against the college basketball spreads in its last five games.
Texas Tech’s Confidence Soared
Nobody will accuse the Texas Tech Red Raiders of shying away from a challenge.
After a less than a stellar slate of games during the month of November, Texas Tech’s degree of difficulty went up in a hurry playing two ranked teams in December and four more – so far – in January. The results have included wins over then-No. 1 Baylor as well as Kansas, ranked sixth at the time, as well as a victory over nationally ranked Tennessee while the Red Raiders were still unranked. Texas Tech dispatched of No. 15 Iowa State the last time out.
The Red Raiders did this with second-leading scorer Kevin McCullar missing four games and third-leading scorer Terrence Shannon Jr. out for 10 games.
They are still trying to shake the rust off as McCullar is just 6 of 24 from the floor in the last three games while Shannon returned after missing more than a month and has missed six of his nine field-goal attempts in games against Kansas State and Iowa State.
There is no rust on the defensive end of the floor. Texas Tech, still playing without its full roster, held Kansas to 67 points and Baylor to 62 in back-to-back upsets. That imposing defense is a major reason why Texas Tech has four wins over teams in the top 15 in the national polls for the first time in program history. The Red Raiders join Alabama as the only teams with four wins over teams ranked in the top 15.
Playing at home will provide a boost to a team already with plenty of positive vibes these days.
"I think we've got the best fans in the country."
🗣 @Bwillington11 pic.twitter.com/wACLH6kFfw
— Texas Tech Basketball (@TexasTechMBB) January 19, 2022
The Red Raiders are 10th nationally in field-goal percentage defense allowing teams to 37.7% shooting and are 16th in scoring margin.
Texas Tech has covered against the Las Vegas odds in five of its last six games.
Texas Tech Vying for Big 12 lead
Texas Tech is second in the Big 12 in rebounding margin while West Virginia has a strange combination of ranking first in the conference in blocked shots per game but being last in rebound margin.
Texas Tech is second in the conference in scoring defense and that will be tested by West Virginia’s Taz Sherman, the second-leading scorer in the conference.
Texas Tech has won its last 14 home games dating back to last season and is 11-3 against the spread in those contests. Eight of the first 11 games during that streak finished under the total but those who bet online might be interested to know that the last three games all finished over the total.
The total has gone over in four of the last five games between West Virginia and Texas Tech and with a total of 128½, going over the total is a realistic possibility.
The line of 8½ is certainly an eye-opening one. Texas Tech should win this game but will they have enough offense to win by nine?
