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Matchup: Texas Tech Red Raiders 22-6 (11-4) at TCU Horned Frogs 17-9 (9-6)
Where To Watch: ESPN2
Money Line: Texas Tech -5 O/U 131
We’re now down to the final three games of the season before we start to get into conference tournament play. As things stand right now Texas Tech sits at second in the conference with a key matchup between Kansas and Baylor taking place later tonight. If the Bears can win and Texas Tech takes care of business against TCU, the Red Raiders and Bears would be 12-4 and the Jayhawks would be 12-3. A tie would then be in play for the Big 12 regular season and things would get really interesting heading into the conference tournament.
As for the game today against TCU, the Horned Frogs seem to be safe as far as the NCAA tournament picture is concerned. They play two games in a row against the Jayhawks following todays matchup, then finish the season with West Virginia. They would likely need to steal one against Kansas and win against WVU to lock up a spot in the tournament, but as of right now their resume seems safe.
Last time these teams met TCU had a 40-37 lead at the half. The second half was a completely different story as Texas Tech outscored the Horned Frogs 45-29. Terrence Shannon Jr. had his best performance of the season and was key down the stretch in closing out the Horned Frogs.
This time around the Red Raiders likely should avoid getting into a similar situation at the half. They need to key in on Mike Miles and keep Eddie Lampkin off of the boards as much as possible. The big three of Kevin Obanor, Bryson Williams and Marcus Santos-Silva have been defending all areas of the court and grabbing rebounds at such a consistent level for this team. Even when they don’t contribute much on offense they make sure to stay strong down low and box out.
I will be looking to see how Kevin McCullar plays today. He was in the game for a short period of time against Oklahoma which is a good sign that he is soon to be back on the court in his usual form in the near future.
My prediction for the final score is a 78-69 win in Fort Worth. Our defense will be too much for them to handle later on and we will jump out to a comfortable lead with Shannon leading us to victory yet again.