NCAA Tournament: Texas Tech vs. Northern Kentucky fearless prediction and game preview.
Broadcast
Date: Friday, March 22
Game Time: 4:00 ET
Venue: Bank of Oklahoma Center, Tulsa, OK
Network: TNT
All You Really Need To Know About Texas Tech (26-6)
(Big 12), NCAA NET Rank: 10. West 6-seed
Outside of a rough midseason run with three straight losses and four defeats in six games, it was an amazing season. The Red Raiders won nine straight before getting bounced out of the Big 12 Tournament by West Virginia.
The defense is among the best in America – only Virginia allowed fewer points per game – helped with loads of blocked shots and by forcing a whole bunch of mistakes. They attack, and they’re stifling at keeping good offenses under wraps, but the scoring is spotty. If Jarrett Culver and Davide Moretti aren’t on, uh oh.
All You Really Need To Know About Northern Kentucky (26-8)
(Horizon), NCAA NET Rank: 6. West 14-seed
The Norse tied Wright State for the regular season Horizon, but caught the Raiders for the tournament title to close out with a five-game winning streak. It’s a wonderful passing team, is outstanding on the boards, and is good at going on runs to take over games.
They come up with steals, but they also managed to commit lots and lots of fouls. The other issue? They can’t shoot from the line, making just 67% of their tries. There’s enough size to put into the mix if needed, and the scoring is four-deep. It’s a dangerous team from inside and out.
– Fill out your bracket in the CFN NCAA Tournament Pool
What’s Going To Happen
Do you like the upstart offense that can put up big numbers in bunches with the great passing ability? The rested Red Raider defense will crush the Norse from the perimeter.
It’s not going to be anything pretty, but it’ll be an effective performance to get by a dangerous Northern Kentucky team that could turn the lights out on anyone with a defense that’s not this strong. The Red Raider O will show up, too.
Fearless Prediction & Line
Texas Tech 80, Northern Kentucky 62
Line: Texas Tech -14, o/u: 137.5
ATS Confidence: 2
5: Watching games by Vegas pool working on fruity drink No. 3
1: Watching game online while doing TPS reports in your cubicle
