No. 14 West Virginia Mountaineers know a thing or two about crippling their opponents’ offenses. The same is true for the No .18 Texas Tech Red Raiders. Only one team will come out on top this coming Wednesday, though, in Lubbock. The Mountaineers are +4000 to win the national title, while the Red Raiders have odds of +7500 to rule the college basketball world.
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Betting Preview for the West Virginia Mountaineers vs Texas Tech Red Raiders NCAA College Basketball Game on January 29 2020
Where: United Supermarkets Arena, Lubbock
When: Wednesday, January 29, 2020, 8:00 PM ET
Line: West Virginia Mountaineers (Odds) vs. Texas Tech Red Raiders (Odds) – view all 2020 NCAAB lines
TV Broadcast: ESPN
Betting on the West Virginia Mountaineers (16-3 Overall / 4-2 Conference)
West Virginia’s stifling defense was too much for the Missouri Tigers, who took a 75-51 beatdown in Morgantown at the hands of Bob Huggins’ boys last Saturday. The Mountaineers went into the weekend ranked third overall in Division I basketball with teams shooting just 36.2 percent against them. They held Missouri down to an even worse figure of 28.3 percent. Texas Tech should know the feeling of having to deal with the Mountaineers’ unforgiving defense, as the Red Raiders drained just 21 of 74 shots from the field in a 66-54 loss to West Virginia in Lubbock on Jan. 11. Per KenPom, the Mountaineers have the best defense in the nation, as they are allowing only 84.7 points per 100 possessions. Rebounding is a big component of West Virginia’s success this season, and it showed that in the previous meeting with Texas Tech in which the Mountaineers won the battle on the glass, 46-33.
The under is 4-1 in the Mountaineers’ last five road games.
Betting on the Texas Tech Red Raiders (12-7 Overall/3-3 Conference)
The Red Raiders nearly caught a big fish in Lubbock last Saturday, as they were edged out by No. 15 Kentucky Wildcats in overtime, 76-74. If anything, the Red Raiders can consider that loss as a moral victory, though, junior guard Davide Moretti had already stated that the team isn’t into such thing. Kyler Edwards led Texas Tech against Kentucky with 18 points, while Moretti and Terrence Shannon had 15 and 12 points, respectively. Those three guys will be carrying most of the load for Texas Tech in the rematch with the Mountaineers, but they need the bench to show up with more production. In the loss to West Virginia, the Red Raiders’ second unit was massively outscored by West Virginia’s bench, 41-15. In any case, Texas Tech is confident in its defense to make WVU commit errors. The Red Raiders, who are forcing opposing teams to pick up 17.5 turnovers per game (11th in the nation), saw WVU had 21 turnovers while they only had 16.
The Red Raiders are 2-2 against the spread (ATS) in their last four home games.
Writer’s Prediction
West Virginia wins, 62-59.
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