Texas Tech (3) vs. Purdue (2) Odds: March Madness Sweet 16 Prediction
It’s Texas Tech’s first trip to the Sweet 16 since Bobby Knight’s 2005 team, seeded sixth, lost in that round to No. 7 West Virginia 65-60. An assistant under Knight then was current Red Raiders head coach Chris Beard. It’s the first trip for Purdue since the 2010 team, seeded fourth, lost to No. 1 Duke 70-57.
NCAA Tournament Odds and Betting Analysis
It’s the second game this season against a Big Ten team for the Red Raiders, who were picked to finish seventh in the Big 12 preseason poll. On Nov. 19 in the championship game of the Hall of Fame Tip-Off Tournament in Connecticut, they slaughtered Northwestern 85-49. The Boilermakers beat Northwestern on Dec. 3 in their only meeting 74-69 in West Lafayette. Purdue hasn’t played a Big 12 team this year.
Purdue is 2-0 all-time against Texas Tech but the schools haven’t played since Dec. 1, 1988. The Boilermakers are +300 on March Madness odds to win the region and the Red Raiders are +500.
Texas Tech Red Raiders
TTU (26-9) got here with a 70-60 first-round win over No. 14 Stephen F. Austin and then 69-66 over No. 6 Florida in the Round of 32 (this writer, incidentally, projected a Red Raiders 68-66 win over the Gators). Texas Tech did have the benefit of playing in nearby Dallas the first two rounds. Keenan Evans is the team’s star and had 22 points and the tiebreaking 3-pointer against Florida with a little more than two minutes remaining. Evans had 23 points in Round 1.
The senior guard was an all-Big 12 pick. Freshman Zhaire Smith was brilliant against the Gators with 18 points, nine rebounds and seven assists. For what it’s worth, Beard’s Arkansas-Little Rock team upset Purdue in the first round of the 2016 NCAA Tournament. He was hired at Texas Tech a few weeks later – after he had accepted the same position at UNLV. That school let him out of his contract for a $1 million buyout.
Purdue Boilermakers
Purdue (30-6) beat No. 15 Cal State Fullerton 74-48 in the first round and then edged in-state rival Butler in Round 2 76-73. The Boilermakers played that Butler game without star center Isaac Haas due to a fractured right elbow suffered in Round 1. He actually warmed up, but the NCAA wouldn’t clear the brace he was wearing because it didn’t meet player safety standards.
Coach Matt Painter has said he didn’t expect Haas to return for the rest of the tournament, but perhaps he can with the right brace – and Haas is still holding out hope. The 7-foot-2 senior averaged 14.7 points, 5.7 rebounds and 1.3 blocks this season. Not many schools in the country can simply plug in another 7-footer, but Purdue did vs. Butler in Dutch redshirt freshman Matt Haarms. He had seven points, six rebounds and two blocks in 29 minutes.
