Bears and 'Horns duke it out in Lone Star State showdown

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

03/02/2009 - Austin, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Texas Longhorns have been a bit inconsistent this season, and they will play host to the Baylor Bears this evening in a Big 12 Conference affair.

On Saturday, Texas fell to Oklahoma State in a 68-59 final, as theLonghorns simply didn't play well enough at the offensive end to win. They are now 19-9 overall, including 8-6 in league play, and a loss tonight could potentially hurt the team's chances of reaching the NCAA Tournament as an at-large selection. Fortunately for Texas, it is 12-2 at home this season and is taking on a Baylor squad that is 2-6 on the road.

The Bears dropped back-to-back road decisions to Oklahoma State and Iowa State before halting that skid with a 75-57 home win over Colorado on Saturday. Still, the Bears' 5-9 conference record clearly overshadows a 17-11 overall mark.

Texas beat Baylor by a 78-72 final in Waco back on January 27th, and the Longhorns own a commanding 154-75 advantage in the all-time series between the Lone Star State rivals.

Curtis Jerrells was tremendous for Baylor in Saturday's romp over Colorado, as the talented guard poured in 29 points on 8-of-12 shooting from the floor and 10-of-11 from the foul line. LaceDarius Dunn added 10 points for the Bears, who shot 52.2 percent from the field and earned a 21-14 edge in points from the charity stripe. A 32-22 rebounding advantage also helped the cause. Through 28 games, Jerrells is averaging 16.4 ppg to go along with 142 assists. Dunn checks in with 15.0 ppg, and he has come off the bench in all but four games this season. Kevin Rogers provides 12.3 ppg and 7.5 rpg, while Tweety Carter contributes 11.8 ppg. Henry Dugat rounds out a group of five double- digit scorers for the Bears, who are surrendering 77.1 ppg to conference opponents.

There is no doubt that Texas relies heavily on the duo of A.J. Abrams and Damion James to carry the load at the offensive end. Abrams is scoring 17.0 ppg despite his 39.3 percent field goal efficiency, and he is as streaky as they come. James is an ultra-athletic forward who brings 15.8 ppg and 9.4 rpg to the floor. The third and final double-digit scorer on the UT roster is Gary Johnson with his 11.3 ppg. Unfortunately, the Longhorns connected on only 31.5 percent of their field goal attempts against Oklahoma State on Saturday and finished with just seven assists against 15 turnovers. Texas was also outscored 19-7 from the foul line in defeat. James posted 18 points and 18 boards in the setback, while Dexter Pittman and Harrison Smith tallied 12 points apiece.

Pokerama NCAA Basketball Betting News

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Big 12 Conference betting odds

Work left to do: Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Kansas State

Texas joins Texas A&M and Kansas as locks after getting league win No. 11. Texas Tech greatly helped its own hopes and crippled OK State's with the two-point win Saturday. Is K-State the last reasonable hopeful? Could be an elimination match in Stillwater on Tuesday, at least for the Cowboys.

Work left to do:

Texas Tech [18-11 (7-7), RPI: 44, SOS: 12] A critical two-point win over OK State leaves the Red Raiders with Baylor and at Iowa State left. Get both and the Red Raiders likely are good to go. Get one and there could be some interesting comparisons with a K-State team that could finish two or three games "ahead" of them in the standings but doesn't have any of the quality wins Texas Tech has. Not a lot in nonconference play (against Arkansas in Little Rock being the best win, by far) to lean on.

Oklahoma State [18-9 (5-8), RPI: 50, SOS: 35] Still without a road win, the Cowboys now need to win two on the road just to get to .500 in conference play. It's hard to recall a team (OK, other than Clemson) falling so precipitously from lock status to almost certainly out of the NCAAs at this point. There are wins to be had in the last three, including a very big home game against K-State on Tuesday, but this team is reeling. Can you tell the pressure to win is getting to them with the way the final possession played out at Texas Tech? There are some good nonconference performances to lean on, specifically beating Missouri State and Syracuse on neutral floors and Pitt in OK City, but if the Pokes don't right this very, very soon, that won't be enough.

Kansas State [20-9 (9-5), RPI: 56, SOS: 96] It pays to be in the Big 12 North. The nine league wins are Colorado (twice), Missouri (twice), Iowa State (twice), Baylor, Nebraska and (a good one against) Texas. That helps explain the middling computer profile. The win over USC is nice, but the nonconference leaves a lot to be desired. The game at OK State in Stillwater on Tuesday is huge, as it could KO the Cowboys and leave K-State with a home date against Oklahoma with which to work.