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Cincinnati vs Texas Tech Prediction 1/21/25 College Basketball Picks Today

Texas Tech (13-4) vs. Cincinnati (12-5)
January 21, 2025 7:00 pm EDT
The Line: Cincinnati +1.5; Over/Under: 132.5
(Get latest betting odds)

The Texas Tech Red Raiders and the Cincinnati Bearcats meet Tuesday in college basketball action from Fifth Third Arena. Here’s a Cincinnati vs Texas Tech prediction. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best Cincinnati vs Texas Tech pick.

Texas Tech Red Raiders Betting Preview

Outside of a middling run at the beginning of the month, the Red Raiders have been a highly consistent team so far this year. They’re yet to lose consecutive outings. Texas Tech opened on a 7-1 stretch that featured a lone loss to St. Joseph’s among wins over Bethune-Cookman, Northwestern State, Wyoming, Arkansas Pine Bluff, Syracuse, Northern Colorado, and DePaul. A 4-3 stretch ensued with losses to Texas A&M, UCF, and Iowa State alongside wins otherwise versus Oral Roberts, Lamar, Utah, and BYU. Since then it’s been a pair of consecutive wins over Kansas State and Arizona to give the Raiders a 13-4 overall record so far this year.


In the Arizona game on Saturday, the Red Raiders came out of halftime sporting a 33-26 advantage. Texas Tech kept it rolling in the second half with a 37-28 run and took the win 70-54 in the end. Leading the team in scoring with a double-double was JT Toppin with 20 points and 16 rebounds. Chance McMillian added 14 points with four rebounds, and Christian Anderson came off the bench for 10 points and three boards in 34 minutes of work.

Cincinnati Bearcats Betting Preview

Over on the Bearcats’ side, they’ve got one bad losing streak in the bag from earlier this month. Otherwise, however, Cincinnati’s record this year is remarkably clean. Over a 10-1 start this season, the Bearcats lost to only Villanova with wins otherwise versus AR-Pine Bluff, Morehead State, Nicholls, Northern Kentucky, Georgia Tech, Alabama State, Howard, Xavier, Dayton, and Grambling. A four-game losing streak ensued after that with defeats courtesy of Kansas State, Arizona, Baylor, and Kansas. Since then, however, it’s been a pair of wins over Colorado and Arizona State for a 12-5 overall record at this point in the season.

Matched up against Arizona State over the weekend, the Bearcats came into the second half with a solid 36-22 advantage. Cincinnati was outscored 38-31 the rest of the way but still held on for the victory 67-60. Leading the team in scoring was Dillon Mitchell with 14 points, three rebounds, three steals, and two assists. Both Jizzle James (two assists) and Dan Skillings (four rebounds) each chipped in 12 points. Simas Lukosius was also in double-figures among the starters with his 10 points, four boards, and four steals in 25 minutes of action on the court.

Why the Cincinnati Bearcats will win

  • Cincinnati has won 25 of its last 26 night games at Fifth Third Arena against non-AP-ranked opponents.
  • Cincinnati has won the first half in each of its last six night games at Fifth Third Arena.

Why the Texas Tech Red Raiders will win

  • Texas Tech has won each of its last six night games.
  • Cincinnati has lost three of its last four night games against the Big 12 Conference.
  • Cincinnati has lost the first half in three of its last four night games against non-AP-ranked opponents.

Cincinnati vs Texas Tech Prediction

I’ll stick with Texas Tech. The Red Raiders are looking good these days, and they’re coming off another solid win over Arizona. In that one, Texas Tech ended up shooting just 36.4 percent, but they also had a 50-34 advantage on the boards and held the Wildcats to only 31 percent shooting on the other side. Texas Tech has held opponents to just 111 combined points over their last two games, and they’ve scored 70 or more in seven of the last eight games (a 6-2 run overall).

As for Cincinnati, they didn’t shoot spectacularly (41.7 percent) themselves in their latest win over Arizona State and also got outmuscled on the glass 42-33 (16-9 offensive). The Bearcats posted 17 points off 14 Sun Devils turnovers however, which proved to be the difference in the game statistically (outside of the 35.5 percent shooting allowed, that is). Cincinnati has been below 69 points in six straight games (a 2-4 stretch) so it wouldn’t be surprising to see a lower-scoring defensive battle here. In the end, I like Texas Tech to power one out, but it should be a good matchup regardless. It’ll be a fun game to watch.

Andrew's Free Pick: Texas Tech Red Raiders -1.5

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Andrew

Andrew has been writing about college, professional and fantasy sports betting since 2013. Andrew's goal is to break down the complicated numbers and trends into a language that's easily accessible to novice sports bettors and seasoned professionals alike.

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