Red Raiders Favored in Opening Drake vs Texas Tech Odds & Betting Lines
By Sascha Paruk in College Basketball
Published:
- The #11 Drake Bulldogs pulled off an upset over #6 Missouri on Thursday
- The #3 Texas Tech Red Raiders survived a stiff test #14 UNC Wilmington
- Below, see the opening Drake vs Texas Tech odds and betting lines for Saturday’s game in Wichita, KS
The #11 Drake Bulldogs (31-3, 17-14) parlayed a superb MVC season into a first-round victory at the 2025 NCAA Tournament, beating #6 Missouri 67-57 as 5.5-point underdogs. But there’s no respite for this potential Cinderella as the #3 Texas Tech Red Raiders (26-8, 17-17 ATS) are waiting in the second round on Saturday in Wichita, KS.
No team has more wins than Drake’s 31 Ws at this point in the season, but it’s still the Red Raiders who are sizable favorites in the opening Drake vs Texas Tech odds.
Opening Drake vs Texas Tech Odds
Texas Tech has opened as a big 7.5-point favorite over the MVC champs. TTU is priced at -325 on the moneyline, giving them a 76.47% implied win probability. The Bulldogs are +260 underdogs (27.78% implied win probability). The game total has been set at just 126.5 in what’s expected to be a slow-paced, defensive slugfest. Odds as of March 21 at DraftKings. See the full list of online betting banking methods at each sportsbook.
Texas Tech is currently the tenth-favorite in the March Madness championship odds (+4000). Drake is a +40000 longshot.
The latest Final Four odds for the West Region show TTU as the +550 second-favorite behind #1 Florida (-125) and Drake as the +300 fifth-favorite.
Drake’s Defense Stifles Mizzou
Drake, which plays at a sluggish pace (364th in tempo) and relies on its stalwart defense, used its bread-and-butter to get past the favored Missouri Tigers on Thursday night in Wichita. The Bulldogs held Mizzou to just 23 first-half points and had built a seven-point lead by the break. Missouri made a comeback in the second and pulled within a point (52-51) with 4:28 remaining, but that’s as close as they would come.
Drake held the Tigers to a pitiful 33% shooting from the field and 25% from three while finishing +3 on the glass and +2 in turnovers. The Bulldogs managed to hit at 54% from the field and 50% from three in one of their more-efficient offensive performances of the season. Leading scorer Bennett Stirtz (19.1 PPG, 4.4 RPG, 5.7 APG) was all-world for his Bulldogs, dropping 21 points on 8-of-11 shooting with four dimes.
Drake played three power-conference teams in the regular season, going 3-0, but only one of those opponents made the NCAA Tournament. They took down Miami (80-69) on a neutral court in Charleston and beat Vanderbilt (81-70) at the same early-season tournament. Three weeks later, they beat Kansas State 73-70 in a de facto road game.
Drake vs Texas Tech KenPom Ratings
Stats in the table predate Thursday’s games.
Texas Tech Survives UNC Wilmington
A 15.5-point favorite, most expected Texas Tech to cruise past #14 UNC Wilmington. But no one told the Seahawks. UNCW briefly led in the second half (48-47) and it wasn’t until the final five minutes that TTU finally managed to put some distance between them and their opponent, ending up with an 82-72 victory.
Big 12 Player of the Year JT Toppin (18.1 PPG, 9.2 RPG) had just ten points and attempted only eight field goals, somewhat due to foul trouble. With third-leading scorer Chance McMillian (14.2 PPG, 4.1 RPG, 1.9 APG) out, senior guard Kerin Walton (5.8 PPG) came up huge, scoring a career-high 27 points, 24 from beyond the arc (8-of-17). Point guard Elijah Hawkins (9.1 PPG, 3.3 RPG, 6.4 APG) finished just one rebound shy of a triple-double, with 13 points, nine rebounds, and ten assists.
TTU shot an NCAA Tournament school-record 44 three-point attempts, but only connected on 13 (29%).
Texas Tech didn’t play any MVC teams in the regular season.
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Check out SBD’s other picks for Friday!
Managing Editor
Sascha has been working in the sports-betting industry since 2014, and quickly paired his strong writing skills with a burgeoning knowledge of probability and statistics. He holds an undergraduate degree in linguistics and a Juris Doctor from the University of British Columbia.
