Texas basketball vs. UTRGV: Prediction and odds college basketball
To wrap up the Leon Black Classic on Nov. 26, No. 4 ranked Texas basketball and head coach Chris Beard will host the UTRGV Vaqueros at a different venue than usual. Texas will host UTRGV this weekend at Gregory Gym in Austin.
This marks the second season in a row that the Longhorns will play a non-conference game at Gregory Gymnasium. Last season, the Longhorns hosted Sam Houston State at Gregory Gym in late November, which resulted in a double-digit win for Beard’s squad.
Texas will once again be heavily favored against a non-conference foe in a game at Gregory Gym.
Beard and the Longhorns come into this matchup against UTRGV with a record of 4-0 (0-0 Big 12) following a convincing complete-team win over the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks on Nov. 21. Texas beat Northern Arizona to open up the Leon Black Classic for both teams in Edinburg by the final score of 73-48.
Each of the four wins on the season for the Longhorns came by a margin of at least 15 points.
Meanwhile, UTRGV heads into this matchup with a record of 4-2 (0-0 WAC) after a 91-79 win over Northern Arizona on Nov. 22. But UTRGV is 0-2 in road games so far this season.
Here’s a look at the betting odds and game prediction as Texas gets set to host UTRGV to close out the Leon Black Classic at Gregory Gym in Austin on Nov. 26, with the tipoff time set for 3 p.m. CT.
Texas basketball vs. UTRGV: Odds for Nov. 26
Texas is a whopping 33.5-point favorite over UTRGV, and the over/under is set at 145.5 (per FanDuel).
The moneyline favors Texas (-20000) over UTRGV (+3500).
According to the ESPN Basketball Power Index, Texas has a 98.7 percent chance of beating UTRGV.
Texas vs. UTRGV prediction
This will be an important game for Beard and the Longhorns to continue building momentum ahead of the key matchup on Dec. 1 where Texas hosts a top-10 ranked Creighton Blue Jays team in Austin. That Texas-Creighton matchup on Dec. 1 in the Big 12-Big East Battle is very likely going to be a top-10 affair at the Moody Center.
Beard is going to have this Texas team focused on the task at hand, though. He’s done a nice job of keeping this team focused and centered game in and game out. And there are a number of different leaders among the upperclassmen on this team (i.e. seniors Timmy Allen and Marcus Carr) that are bound to keep this run going through non-conference play.
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UTRGV does have some size on the wing and in the frontcourt that could pose some issues early on for Texas. the Vaqueros’ leading scorer, 6-foot-6 senior two-guard/wing Justin Johnson, is averaging nearly 20 points per game. Johnson leads a high-powered UTRGV offense that is putting up well north of 80 points per game.
But the questionable defense for UTRGV will ultimately be its downfall in this one.