Longhorns try not to come up short against Oakland
When the Texas Longhorns play the Oakland Golden Grizzlies in a second round West Region contest on Friday in Tulsa, the question many college basketball fans is just this one: which Texas team will show up?
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#13 Oakland (25-9, 17-1 Summit) vs. #4 Texas (27-7, 13-3 Big 12)
Date/Time: Friday, March 18, 12:15 PM ET
Venue: Bank of Oklahoma Center in Tulsa, OK.
Broadcast: CBS
Money Line: Oakland +400, Texas -500
Spread: Texas -9 ½
Over/Under: 153 ½
Will it be the Longhorns team that swept Texas A&M or the one that lost to Nebraska? Will it be the team that knocked off North Carolina and Michigan State or the one that struggled to beat Oklahoma State? Will it be the one which one at Kansas, or the one that lost at home to Kansas State?
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One thing we know for sure: Texas coach Rick Barnes is no stranger to the NCAA Tournament. He has guided the Longhorns into the NCAA Tournament in each of his 13 seasons in Austin. They have won multiple games in the tournament under his tutelage four times, including a trip to the 2003 Final Four.
But perhaps a better question that Texas fans should ask is this one: can anyone on our team shut down Keith Benson?
Oakland’s 6’11” center has dominated most games he’s played in this season. Benson is one of seven players in the NCAA Tournament that averaged a double-double for the season with 18 points and 10.1 rebounds per game each. While the Golden Grizzlies went just 1-6 outside of league play against tournament teams this season, many of those were what tournament wonks like to call ‘quality losses’.
Benson isn’t alone in his attack on the offensive end. Oakland was second in the entire country in scoring as a team, averaging 85.6 points per game (Texas averaged 74.9). In addition to Benson, the Golden Grizzlies feature three other players averaging double digits in points: Reggie Hamilton (17.4), Will Hudson (12.5) and Travis Bader (10.5). Hudson can bang on the glass inside with Benson, while Hamilton and Bader can shoot three-pointers with precision.
In the end, if the Longhorns show up with their ‘A-game’, they should find a way to win. This is because they also have four players averaging double-digits in scoring, led by Jordan Hamilton at 18.6 points per contest.
The odds makers have the Texas Longhorns as a -9.5 point favorite with an over/under of 153.5.
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Prediction: This game will be very close… too close. The Golden Grizzlies have shown they are not afraid of a challenge, and we think they’ll be up to the task in an upset victory.
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Texas Longhorns Betting Trends:
- Texas is 20-5 SU in its last 25 games
- The total has gone OVER in 4 of Texas’s last 6 games
- The total has gone UNDER in 11 of Texas’s last 16 games
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