BYU Cougars (23-9) vs. Texas Tech Red Raiders (22-9)
March 14, 2024 12:30 pm EDT
The Line: Texas Tech Red Raiders +2; Over/Under: 153.5
(Get latest betting odds)
The BYU Cougars and the Texas Tech Red Raiders meet Thursday in Big 12 Tournament college basketball action from Sprint Center. Let’s get into our BYU vs Texas Tech prediction. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.
BYU Cougars
The Cougars started tout the season on a 14-5 run before a 4-1 stretch in February that featured a lone loss to Oklahoma. BYU is 5-3 in their last eight games, taking out Baylor, Kansas, TCU, Oklahoma State and UCF alongside losses to Oklahoma State, Kansas State and Iowa State.
In Wednesday’s tournament game versus Central Florida, the Cougars were up 47-38 by the break. BYU kept it going with a 40-35 run in the second half and cruised to the win 87-73. Leading team scorer Fousseyni Traore came off the bench to double up on 14 points with 10 boards.
Texas Tech Red Raiders
Over on the Red Raiders’ side, they started out the year at 16-3 overall, but then hit a rough 3-6 stretch. The losses in that time were versus TCU, Cincinnati, Baylor, Iowa State, UCF and Texas. Since then Texas Tech has righted the ship with wins over West Virginia, Oklahoma State and Baylor, though.
Back on Saturday versus Baylor, the Red Raiders came out of halftime with a 40-27 edge. Texas Tech was outscored 41-38 the rest of the way but still won handily 78-68. Tops in scoring was Pop Isaacs with 20 points, while Darrion Williams doubled on 16 points with 11 boards.
ANDREW’S FREE BYU VS TEXAS TECH PREDICTION
I’ll stick with Texas Tech. The Red Raiders are playing well right now and seem to be past their late-season stumbles. Texas Tech shot a nice 49.1 percent from the field in their latest win over Baylor, adding a 40-30 rebounding edge and 15 team assists. That makes 75 or more points in three straight games for the Raiders—all of which were wins.
In the last meeting between these teams back on January 20, the Raiders secured an 85-78 win at home. Texas Tech was drilled 48-32 in the first half but came back strong to bag the win in the end. BYU notched a 42-32 rebounding edge but also had 12 turnovers for 22 Raiders points. Texas Tech also hit 17 of their 18 free throws, and that kind of accuracy will help in the rematch if this one is close late. Should be a great matchup overall.
