NCAA basketball on Friday night and it is the semifinals of the Big 12 Tournament. In this matchup we will see the Baylor Bears take on the Texas Longhorns at the Sprint Center in Kansas City, Missouri. The game has a start time of 9:30 pm (Eastern) and will be televised on ESPN U. Vegas odds have the Bears listed as 1 point favorites, while the total sits at 138.5.
Stat Pack: The Baylor Bears come into this game at 23-10 on the year. They got to the semifinals by beating TCU and Oklahoma. The Baylor offense averages 75.1 ppg (72nd) on 45.7% shooting (101st). The Bears excel from deep, hitting 38.5% from long range, which is 36th in the nation, but they don’t hit free throws well, hitting just 66.7% from the line, which is 275th in the nation. Corey Jefferson leads the team in scoring at 13.6 ppg, while also leading in rebounding at 8.2 rpg. Kenny Cherry leads in assists (154), while scoring 13.5 ppg. The best long range threat on the team is Brady Helsip (11.3 ppg), who hits 46.1% of his long range shots. On defense the Bears are pretty average as they allow 68 ppg on 42.3% shooting, but they are a good rebounding team as they haul in 38.9 rpg, which ranks 21st in the nation.
The Texas longhorns come in off of a win vs West Virginia in the quarterfinals. Texas comes in at 23-9 on the year, but are just 3-4 in their last 7 games. Texas comes in averaging 74.5 ppg on the year (77th), but they are not a good shooting team, hitting just 43.1% of their shots, which is 238th in the nation. They also struggle from long range (287th) and from the free throw line (273rd). The Longhorns are led by Jonathan Holmes, who averages 13.0 ppg on the year, while pulling down 7.4 boards per game (2nd on team). Cameron Ridley leads the team in rebounding (8.2 rpg) while also scoring 11.5 ppg (4th on team). Defensively, the Longhorns are 30th in defensive FG%, allowing teams to shoot just 40.1% from the floor, but still they allow 70.2 ppg, which is 180th in the nation.
Pick: I will look to the Under in this one. Yes both teams play an uptempo style of ball, but these two defenses have been very solid down the stretch, as the Bears have allowed 65.0 ppg in their last 5 games, while the Longhorns have allowed just 54 ppg in their last 3 games. Tournament ball also breeds a slightly slower paced game, especially if its close in the last 10 minutes, which it should be. I see some tightness with some god defense in this one.
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