Cincinnati vs Texas Tech Odds, Pick for Saturday

The Cincinnati Bearcats and Texas Tech Red Raiders are two of the most surprising teams in the Big 12 and they'll face off at United Supermarkets Arena in Lubbock, Texas on Saturday night.

Texas Tech is enjoying the first year of the Grant McCasland era as it's 185 and 5-2 in Big 12 play. However, the success has come differently than anyone would have guessed.

McCasland built a reputation at North Texas for having an elite defense, which led UNT to an NIT title last season. In Lubbock, it's been entirely different. Texas Tech ranks 27th in offensive efficiency and is 73rd in defensive efficiency.

A trio of guards — Pop Isaacs, Joe Toussaint and Chance McMillian — have turned Texas Tech into a scoring machine. Isaacs leads the Red Raiders with 17 points per game. Toussaint is the calming presence of the bunch as he hits clutch shots and embraces the strong defense McCasland wants. McMillian is a sparkplug of the bench and has scored 14 or more points in three straight games.

Oddly enough, Texas Tech scored 85 points in three consecutive games against some pretty solid defenses in BYU, Oklahoma and TCU. So, Cincinnati's stout defense likely won't scare Tech's strong offense.

The main problem for Tech's defense is slowing down the perimeter shots. Opponents shoot a blistering 34% from 3, which ranks 221st in defensive shooting percentage.

Thankfully for the Red Raiders, Cincinnati isn't a good shooting team. The Bearcats rely far more on defense than offense, ranking 16th in defensive efficiency and 73rd in offense. Those splits are no real surprise, as Wes Miller is known for his defensive coaching chops.

The Bearcats started the season hot, but are now getting a real taste of the rigors of Big 12 play and have lost three of their past four. So, grabbing a massive quadrant one win could be the difference in Cincinnati feeling comfortable about its standing in the NCAA Tournament picture.

Big man Viktor Lakhin leads Cincinnati with 12 points per game and will need a strong performance in Lubbock. However, it won't come easy against Darrion Williams' stout defense. However, Lakhin does have a size advantage over Williams.

Cincinnati also suffocates opponents on the glass and ranks in the top 10 in both offensive and defensive rebounding percentages.

The biggest offensive obstacle for Cincinnati is perimeter shooting. The Bearcats connect on just 32% of their 3s and their guards don't shoot it particularly well.

Texas Tech probably has the second-best home-court environment in the Big 12, only behind Allen Fieldhouse. The Red Raiders are 2-1 against the spread in conference home games, and that should improve to 3-1 here.

Pick: Texas Tech -6 (Play to -7.5)