Vanderbilt vs Texas Prediction 2/8/25 College Basketball Picks Today
Texas (15-8) vs. Vanderbilt (16-6)
February 8, 2025 1:00 pm EDT
The Line: Vanderbilt -2.5 ; Over/Under: 148.5
(Get latest betting odds)
The Texas Longhorns and the Vanderbilt Commodores meet Saturday in college basketball action from Vanderbilt University Memorial Gym. Here’s a Vanderbilt vs Texas prediction. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best Vanderbilt vs Texas pick.
Texas Longhorns Betting Preview
The Longhorns have been a pretty consistent team overall this year, but they do have a rough run in early January in the books. Texas kicked off with a loss to Ohio State in the opener, then beat Houston Christian, Chicago State, MS Valley State, Syracuse, Saint Joseph’s, Delaware State and NC State in the next seven outings. The Longhorns would lose to UConn before four more wins over New Mexico State, AR-Pine Bluff, New Orleans and Northwestern State. A 1-4 run came next with a lone win over Oklahoma among losses to Texas A&M, Auburn, Tennessee and Florida. Since then Texas is 3-2 with losses to Ole Miss and Arkansas among wins versus Missouri, Texas A&M and Arkansas, giving the Longhorns a 15-8 overall record though their first 23 games of the 2024-25 season so far.
In the Arkansas game on Wednesday, the Longhorns were down by 11 points going into the second half. Texas came back on a 46-43 run but it wasn’t enough to make the comeback in a 78-70 defeat. Leading team scorer Tre Johnson put up 25 points with four assists, five rebounds and two steals. Arthur Kaluma added 12 points with 13 boards for a double-double, and Kadin Shedrick chipped in 10 points with eight boards. Julian Larry was the leading bench contributor with 11 points and three assists in 28 minutes of work on the floor.
Vanderbilt Commodores Betting Preview
Over on the Commodores’ side, they were looking great as the calendar flipped over to 2025, however since then it’s been a choppy ride amid some very tough matchups. Vanderbilt won 13 of their first 14 games, falling to only Drake on November 24. Otherwise it was wins over MD Eastern Shore, Southeast Missouri State, California, Jackson State, Nevada, Seton Hall, Tennessee Tech, Virginia Tech, TCU, the Citadel, Austin Peay, New Orleans and LSU in that time. Since then it’s been a 3-5 stretch for the Commodores. The losses came versus Mississippi State, Missouri, Alabama, Oklahoma and Florida. Otherwise it was wins over South Carolina, Tennessee and Kentucky in that time. The result in the record column so far this year for the Commodores is a 16-6 run over 22 games.
On Tuesday in the Florida matchup the Commodores held a one-point lead in the locker room. Vanderbilt was blitzed the rest of the way 51-39 however, eventually limping to a loss 86-75 in the end. Jason Edwards put up 20 points with one assist in 31 minutes to lead the way in the losing effort. Devin McGlockton added 14 points with eight rebounds and one steal in 28 minutes. Tops off the bench was Jaylen Carey with 15 points, five rebounds and one assist with one steal and one block in 22 minutes out on the court.
Why the Vanderbilt Commodores will win
- Vanderbilt has won each of its last 10 games at Memorial Gymnasium against non-AP-ranked opponents.
- Texas has lost each of its last three away games when playing with a rest disadvantage.
- Vanderbilt has won the first half in each of its last nine games at Memorial Gymnasium against non-AP-ranked opponents.
Why the Texas Longhorns will win
- Texas has won each of its last 21 day games against non-AP-ranked opponents.
- Vanderbilt has lost three of its last four games.
- Texas has won the first half in each of its last 13 day games against non-AP-ranked opponents.
Vanderbilt vs Texas Prediction
I’ll stay with Vanderbilt. The Commodores were highly permissive against Florida in their last outing, and lost the handle in the second half. Vanderbilt gave up a whopping 57.4 percent shooting from the field in that one alongside a 35-29 rebounding deficit and 11 turnovers for 13 Gators points. The Commodores did shoot well themselves (50.8 percent) but it wasn’t enough to keep pace. Vanderbilt has given up 86 or more points in each of their last three losses, so they’re going to have to put the clamps down on defense Saturday.
As for Texas, they’ve been a mixed bag record-wise lately but they’re scoring pretty well with 69 or more points in four straight games. I like this one to be a fairly high total, but Vanderbilt needs to keep things manageable if they want to power out a cover.
