Texas Tech vs Baylor: Odds, Predictions, and Best Bet for Tuesday, January 20

The Texas Tech Red Raiders will head east to take on the Baylor Bears in a Big 12 battle on Tuesday, January 20. Both teams have superior offenses, and both love to run up and down the floor. Will we see plenty of thunderous dunks and wild shots from downtown in this one on Peacock?

How will this one play out? We’ll dive into which team has the edge in each statistical category. Get our predictions and best player prop below. Best of luck, sports betting family.

Opening Odds for Texas Tech vs Baylor

Oddsmakers are making Texas Tech a small favorite in this game, as the opening line priced the Red Raiders as a 1.5-point favorite on Monday morning. However, most sportsbooks were flooded with lots of early money on Texas Tech. That’s why the road team is now only favored by two points at a few shops at the time of this writing.

The books are expecting a higher amount of scoring in this game. The opening total was 158, but tons of Under money has changed all of that. We’re now sitting at 155.5 at most online sportsbooks. The move to the Under is a bit shocking with these two solid offenses.

Will the Red Raiders Win 4 in a Row?

Texas Tech is a solid 14-4 on the season and 4-1 in Big 12 play. The Red Raiders are coming off a nice 13-point win against BYU at home on Saturday. They also got a dominant victory over Utah just a few days before that on their home court.

Junior forward JT Toppin leads the Red Raiders in scoring, as he’s averaging 21.6 points per game and shooting more than 56% from the field. Texas Tech has a ton of depth, as four of their players average more than 11 points per game this season. As you might expect, Toppin leads the team in rebounding with 11.2 per contest.

The Red Raiders rated out as an average defensive team, as they rank 105th in opponent effective field goal percentage allowed and 81st in defensive efficiency. Christian Anderson leads the team in steals with 1.6 per game. Donovan Atwell isn’t far behind with 1.4 thefts per contest.

Can the Bears Finally Put Things Together?

Baylor has plenty of talent this season, but they’ve been a whole lot more inconsistent than I thought they would be. The Bears are 11-6 but haven’t been great at all in conference play. They’re going to have to step things up if they want a decent seeding once March Madness rolls around.

Cameron Carr is the main man of the Baylor offense, as he leads the team in scoring with 20.5 points per game. The 6’5″ sophomore is coming off an incredible 24-point performance against Kansas last Friday in a losing effort. Carr gets a lot of help from Tounde Yessoufou (13.9 ppg) and Dan Skillings Jr (13.8 ppg).

The Bears’ defense has struggled to defend the 3-ball, but they’ve been pretty decent in a few areas. Baylor ranks 67th in defensive efficiency and 76th in 2-point defense. Caden Powell leads the team in rebounding with 7.5 per game.

Best Bet: Baylor +2 (-110) (Fanatics) (1 Unit)

I think this is a good bounce-back spot for Baylor tonight as a small home underdog. The Bears are going to be in desperation mode because they’ve lost 4 of 5 and are sitting at just 1-4 in Big 12 play. There’s way too much talent on this roster to have such pitiful results.

I love that Baylor comes into this game with an extra day of rest after losing at Kansas on Friday night. Texas Tech is fat and happy after winning on Saturday against BYU. There’s a reason why the ranked Red Raiders are only favored by a bucket in this spot. The bookmakers know that the Bears will be fired up.

Some of the key metrics are pretty tight, so I lean toward the home team with the motivational edge. Baylor is slightly better in offensive efficiency, but Texas Tech is slightly better in defensive efficiency. I’ll also give the Bears a slight rebounding edge.

Let’s play Baylor +2 for a full unit and sprinkle a little something something on the moneyline at +115. Good luck, sports betting family!