Expecting lots of offense when Texas Tech visits West Virginia? While the total has gone OVER in 10 of their last 15 meetings, these programs are much better on defense than offense — making the UNDER a strong play even with a lower total.
- Date/Time: January 11, 6:00 p.m. ET
- Arena: WVU Coliseum
- TV Coverage: ESPN2
- Sportsbook Odds: West Virginia -4.5 | O/U 127.5
- Texas Tech vs West Virginia Matchup Report
Sportsbook Odds Analysis
West Virginia opened as 4.5-point home favorites, likely due to it winning nine straight home games and six of its last seven at home against Texas Tech. With both schools skewed much more towards defensive games, the total opened low at 127.5 points.
Texas Tech News & Notes
Texas Tech is coming off a tough home loss on Tuesday, dropping a 57-52 contest to No. 4 Baylor, with its biggest weakness again being its Achilles’ heel, rebounding.
The Red Raiders are 157th in the nation in rebounding and were -19 in the rebounding department in the loss against Baylor. With a small roster — senior guard Chris Clarke leads the team in rebounding — they’ll be in tough against a Mountaineers team that is 13th in the country in total rebounds and 28th in rebounding percentage.
Texas Tech has covered the spread just once in its last five games and is only 1-5 ATS in its last six meetings against West Virginia. If it wants to pull off the road upset Saturday, it'll need to find a way to not get completely outmatched on the glass.
West Virginia News & Notes
After back-to-back battles against the second and third-ranked schools in the country, in which the Mountaineers split those games, West Virginia was able to relax in its most recent game, a 55-41 win over Oklahoma State on Monday.
As has become the norm with West Virginia (and coach Bob Huggins), its defense is among the nation’s best; its 19th in the country in defensive scoring, it allows the third-lowest opponent field goal percentage in the nation… and its offense is ranked 196th among D-I teams.
It’s no surprise that West Virginia has seen the total go UNDER in seven straight games and 11 of its 14 this season. Although the total has gone OVER in 10 of its last 15 meetings with Texas Tech, considering both teams are very defensive-minded this could be a low-scoring game.
Betting Pick: UNDER 127.5
Two defensive stalwarts which struggle offensively in a tough conference game? That doesn’t sound like many points to me — I’ll take the UNDER.
- Texas Tech is 4-1 ATS in its last 5 road games.
- West Virginia is 5-1 ATS in its last 6 games.
- The UNDER is 7-0 in West Virginia's last 7 games.
