2012 Big 12 Tournament – First Round
#10 Texas Tech Red Raiders vs #7 Oklahoma St Cowboys
Sprint Center – Kansas City, Missouri
Wednesday, March 7, 2012, 9:30 pm Eastern, TV: YES, Altitude
Opening Line: Oklahoma St -8
Current Line: Oklahoma St -8
Opening Total: 125 1/2
Current  Total: 123
Opening Money Line: OSU -360 / Texas Tech +300
Current Money Line: OSU -360 / Texas Tech +300

The 8-22 Texas Tech Red Raiders finished dead last in the Big 12 with a 1-17 conference record. Of course the Red Raiders are rebuilding with first year head coach Billy Gillispie, and a young roster with 10 underclassmen and only one senior. Now Texas Tech will face off with the #7 seed Oklahoma St Cowboys who are 13-17 overall and were 7-11 in conference play. The Cowboys, coached by Travis Ford are also a young team with 8 underclassmen on the roster.

Texas Tech has wins over Troy, North Texas, and Stephen F. Austin, and their lone conference win was over Oklahoma The Red Raiders have lost six in a row since then including 81-59 at home against Missouri Saturday to close out the regular season. Texas Tech has non-conference losses to Indiana St, DePaul, Wake Forest, TCU, and Oral Roberts.

Oklahoma St has wins over Tulsa, Missouri St, SMU, Texas Tech twice, Oklahoma, Missouri, Iowa St, Texas, and Texas A&M. The Cowboys have lost 3 of their last 4 games, and the last 2 including 77-58 on Saturday at Kansas St. The Cowboys have additional losses to Stanford, Virginia Tech twice, Pittsburgh, New Mexico, Alabama, Texas, Baylor twice, Iowa St, Kansas St twice, Texas A&M, Kansas twice, Missouri, and Oklahoma.

Oklahoma St leads the series 37-13 against Texas Tech. The Cowboys have beaten the Red Raiders three straight timer including a season sweep this year. OSU opened Big 12 play with a 67-59 home win against Texas Tech. The Cowboys won in Lubbock 80-63 to close out January and complete the season sweep. The winner of this game will play Missouri in the quarterfinals.

Texas Tech is being outscored 68-60 this season. The Red Raiders are shooting 43.8% from the field and 36.2% from 3 point range. Texas Tech makes 70.1% from the free throw line. The Red Raiders average 30.2 rebounds a game with a rebounding margin of -2.6. Texas Tech averages 11.1 assists, 17.1 turnovers, 5.2 steals, and 3 blocks a game. Texas Tech opponents are shooting 42% from the field and 33.6% from 3 point range. The Red Raiders force 12.7 turnovers a game.

Texas Tech forward Jordan Tolbert averages 11.4 points and 5.7 rebounds a game to lead the team in both categories. Ty Nurse averages 8.9 points, 1.8 rebounds, 1.9 assists, and is tied for the team lead in steals with 0.8 a game. Jaye Crockett averages 8.7 points, 5.6 rebounds, 1.1 assists, 0.8 steals a game, and 0.8 blocks a game. Javarez Williams averages 8.2 points, 2.4 rebounds, and 1.8 assists a game. Toderick Gotcher led the Red Raiders in assists but he is out with an ankle injury. Robert Lewandowski leads the team in blocks with 0.9 a game. Forward Kader Tapsoba (foot) and guard Kevin Wagner (knee) are also out for the season.

Oklahoma St is being outscored 68-67. The Cowboys shoot 42.1% from the field including 33.1% from 3 point range. OSU makes 73.3% of their free throws. The Pokes average 32.5 rebounds a game and have a rebounding margin of -5.1. OSU averages 11.2 assists, 12.2 turnovers, 4.4 blocks and 6.4 steals a game. Cowboy opponents are shooting 42.1% from the field and 31.4% from 3 point range. OSU forces 12.7 turnovers a game on defense.

OSU guard Keiton Page averages 16.8 points, 1.9 rebounds, 2.1 assists, and 1.5 steals a game. He leads the Cowboys in scoring and steals.  Page shoots 38.2% from 3 point range. Le’Bryan Nash averaged 13.3 points and 5 rebounds a game. He is out for the season with a broken arm.  Markel Brown averages 10.5 points, 5.2 rebounds, 2.3 assists to lead the team, and 1.3 steals a game. Guard Jean-Paul Olukemi is out for the season with a knee injury. He was the Cowboys’ third leading scorer averaging 9.4 points and 4.8 rebounds a game. Cezar Guerrero Brian Williams, and Reger Dowell all contribute to the scoring as well. Center Philip Jurick led the Cowboys in blocks with 1.7 and averaged 4.9 rebounds a game. He is out for the season with a torn Achilles’ tendon. with . At 6′-11″, he was the only player on the roster over 6′-8″ but he only played around 18 minutes a game. Michael Cobbing averages 5.7 rebounds to lead the team and 1.5 blocks a game.

OSU is 14-14-1 ATS and the total is also 14-14-1 this season. Texas Tech is 8-18 ATS and the total is 9-17 this season. Texas Tech is 4-1 ATS in the last 5 against Oklahoma St.  The Red Raiders are 3-7 ATS after a double digit home loss, 1-5 overall, in Big 12 games, and in neutral site games, 1-4 after a straight up loss, in Wednesday games, against teams with losing records, and after a straight up loss of 20 points or more.

Oklahoma St is the better team, but they are really banged up right now with three key players out for the season. Texas Tech is awful though, and has injury problems of their own. Both teams are very young. I think Oklahoma St pulls out a close win but I like Texas Tech to cover the 8 point spread.

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