Texas Tech made the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2007 on the strength of some huge wins in Big 12 play. Now the Red Raiders will try to win their first game in the tournament since Bob Knight was coach when they face the Butler Bulldogs.
College Basketball Odds at BookMaker.eu
Texas Tech Red Raiders +4
Butler Bulldogs -4
Over/Under 147.5
HOW THE TEXAS TECH RED RAIDERS WILL COVER THE SPREAD
The Red Raiders were upset by TCU in the first round of the Big 12 Conference Tournament and will have more than a week of rest before they play Butler. Texas Tech punched its ticket to the dance during a three game stretch in mid-February when it knocked off Iowa State, Baylor and Oklahoma.
With the committee's emphasis on Top 50 wins this season, these big victories were enough to propel Texas Tech into the tournament.
Fifth year senior Toddrick Gotcher is one of the team's captains and leads Texas Tech with 11.1 PPG. For the Red Raiders it's truly a team effort though with seven players averaging at least 8.7 points per game. Coach Tubby Smith and the Red Raiders also are getting their starting center back at the right time as Norense Odiase recently returned from injury.
Odiase played well against other tournament teams and his return is a boon to Texas Tech's chances.
HOW THE BUTLER BULLDOGS WILL COVER THE SPREAD
The Bulldogs finished fifth in the Big East and lost in their first game of the conference tournament to the team that has been their bugaboo all year, Providence. Unlike Texas Tech, Butler is battle tested in the NCAA Tournament and its experience at this time of the year is one of the reasons the Bulldogs are favorites here.
Butler has four players averaging double digits and features one of the deepest rotations in college basketball. The most well-rounded of Butler's stars is Roosevelt Jones who averages 14.3 points per game and hits 49.1 percent of his shots while leading the team in rebounding, 6.7 RPG, as well as assists, 4.7 APG.
The Bulldogs also boast two long range assassins who also are tied for the team lead in scoring at 16.2 PPG in Kellen Dunham and Kelan Martin. Dunham is nailing 41.4 percent of his threes and Martin is hitting 38.5 percent of his. These two sharpshooters give Butler a chance to upset lower seeded teams and if the Bulldogs can get by Texas Tech, their prowess will loom large against Virginia in the second round.
ANALYSIS AND PREDICTION
The Red Raiders are 15-13 ATS on the season and 6-8 ATS in their games played outside of Lubbock. Texas Tech has been a good team to bet on of late in covering six of the last nine times. The Red Raiders have played a spate of over games recently as well with six of their last nine going over.
Butler sits at 16-14-1 against the number on the season and has gone 7-8 ATS away from home thus far. The Bulldogs are on fire ATS in their last 10, covering eight of these, and five of their last six have gone over the total as well.
Both of these NCAAB teams are well-coached and this should be a much more wide open game than the winner's game against Virginia in the next round. Expect a higher scoring game than the experts think, with the Bulldogs eventually pulling past the Red Raiders.
Butler 80, Texas Tech 73
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