Big 12 Basketball: Kansas vs Texas Tech odds, TV, and key matchups

One of the two biggest games on today’s slate pits Kansas who is trying to get back to the top of the league against the team who knocked them off their perch last year in Texas Tech.

Texas Tech made a run all the way through to the National Championship game before losing to the Virginia Cavaliers. This year has not been nearly as easy for the Raiders and Chris Beard.

Tech sits at 18-12 and firmly on the bubble for the NCAA Tournament, and a win against the Jayhawks might do it for them, but the quality wins aren’t really there. Tech has beaten Oklahoma, West Virginia, and Louisville, and really only have one glaring loss to DePaul, which was not a bad loss at the time. The losses to Iowa and Creighton have only improved their NET and they played the Jayhawks within three points in the first meeting.

KU is back to being KU, sitting 27-3 with a 16-1 conference record. A win tomorrow gives Kansas yet another conference championship. They are going for their 16th straight win.

For Texas Tech, they need to get Jahmi’us Ramsey involved. That sounds easy but the last time these two teams played, Ramsey put up 26 points and about pulled out a victory for Tech. Maybe more importantly, they need Davide Moretti to pitch in some more. Moretti is one of the leaders on this team being a third-year player, and in the last matchup, he only mustered nine points on 1/5 from three-point land. That’s not gonna cut it for a three-point shooter against a team the caliber of Kansas.

Tech has lost three in a row, and they need to start fast and run with the Hawks to end their season on a good note. They head into the final game of the regular season with a 9-8 conference record, and the committee may see 10-8 as a better qualifier.

For the Jayhawks, it’s just the status quo tomorrow. Let Devon Dotson do his thing, let Marcus Garrett facilitate, and let Udoka go crazy underneath. The Red Raiders don’t really have a presence underneath which will present some problems for them, but Azubuike should have his way with the Raiders, and that in itself may be the deciding factor.

In terms of tournament status, Texas Tech needs this game way more than KU, so expect to see them come out fast and play very sound. Chris Beard teams don’t normally play fast, but they may need to if they want to pull the upset.