Alabama St vs Texas Tech Odds, Lines, and Spread (Dec. 28)

Odds as of December 27th, 2021.

Mo Williams’ team actually led the No. 16 Longhorns by nine points eight minutes into the game last week in Austin. But UT forced ASU into 20 turnovers and pulled away in the second half to win by 20. Gerald Liddell, a Texas transfer, led the Hornets with 16 points. Juan Reyna added 10.

Meantime, Mark Adams’ club saw four players score in  double-digit to beat the Eagles by 28 points. Kevin Obanor was one of those players — putting up11 points, seven rebounds and four assists in a nice bounce-back victory after the Red Raiders lost to Gonzaga 69-55 on Dec. 18.

Hornets’ Nest

Alabama State rank second-to-last nationally in turnovers, committing nearly 18 a game. That unfortunate reality reared its ugly head last week against a ranked Big 12 team on its homecourt. Now, Williams hopes it’s not déjà vu all over again Tuesday.

Getting some work in ahead of tomorrow’s game against Texas Tech in Lubbock

Energy x Effort x Enthusiasm#SWARMAS1 x #Team88 pic.twitter.com/8fnISxOfSE

— Alabama State MBB (@BamaStateMBB) December 27, 2021

The Hornets have seven players who average at least eight points per game — but only one (Liddell, at 10.9) — who puts up double-figures.

Williams’ squad owns the 41st-toughest schedule in D-1 — which is saying something, since the SWAC ranks at the bottom of college hoops. But the Hornets have challenged themselves already in the 2021-22 slate, facing five teams rated in the top-100 of KenPom’s rankings. They’ve lost to them all (by an average of 18.2 points), only coming relatively close in a 68-60 defeat at Iowa State. ASU’s lone D-1 victory was against North Carolina Central, an 80-74 win in overtime.

This team plays fast (12th in adjusted temp), but is exceedingly inexperienced. As a result, they rank near the bottom of several categories, including offensive adjusted efficiency and offensive turnover percentage.

Red Reign

Tech held EWU — a team that leads the Big Sky in scoring at nearly 80 points a contest –  to 26.4% shooting overall (14-of-53) and 22.3% on 3-pointers (8-of-35) last week. Meantime, the Red Raiders shot a scintillating 59% (29-of-49) themselves.

Never take anything for granted. #Ŧogether | @emwdigital_ pic.twitter.com/aqAHgfc2NL

— Texas Tech Basketball (@TexasTechMBB) December 27, 2021

This is the last non-conference tuneup for Adams’ group — and with Saturday’s scheduled Big 12 lid-lifter moved to Jan. 13 — the Red Raiders don’t play again until heading to Ames Jan. 5 in their new conference opener. Expect a strong effort with a longer layoff on the horizon.

Tech is the 19th-rated team overall, per KenPom (which puts the program third behind conference heavyweights Baylor and Kansas). Chris Beard may be in the state capital now, but Ames still has this version of the Raiders playing strong defense (ranking sixth in defensive adjusted efficiency).

Junior guard Kevin McCullar is the team’s leading scorer (at 13.8 ppg) and rebounder (6.3 rpg) and is one of three players averaging at least 10 points an outing.

The Pick

The availability of starting guard Terrence Shannon and Mylik Wilson is still uncertain Tuesday. Shannon, a highly-rated 6-foot-6 guard, missed his second game in a row against the Eagles because of back spasms. Meantime, Wilson missed his third straight game after a minor procedure on the junior’s knee.

But with or without the two players, this should be an absolute boat race. Texas Tech already owns four wins by at least 32 points and Alabama State seems undermanned in this spot.

With the Red Raiders hungry to pick up one more victory before taking on the Cyclones, in the New Year look for another blowout victory by the home team in Lubbock.

Pick: Texas Tech -30 (-110)