ESPN Analytics believes that Texas has a great chance to keep its SEC roll going on Tuesday night when it hosts rival LSU in a 9 p.m. ET matchup on SEC Network.
The ESPN BPI has crunched the numbers and gives the Longhorns a 78.4% chance to take down the struggling Tigers at the Moody Center in Austin. Texas has won 4 in a row and 5 out of 6 coming into Tuesday night, a torrid stretch that it capped with Saturday night’s 85-68 victory at Mizzou.
The win improved the Longhorns to 16-9 overall and 7-5 in the SEC, as Texas tries to keep climbing the conference standings while improving its NCAA Tournament chances.
While the Longhorns are red-hot right now, it’s a different state of affairs for LSU, which currently sits at the bottom of the SEC standings, tied with South Carolina at 2-10. The Tigers are still over .500 overall at 14-11, but they’ve lost 6 out of 7 coming into the matchup in Austin, a horrible stretch they capped with a 73-63 loss at Tennessee on Saturday night.
At this point, LSU is looking toward the SEC Tournament and trying to build some kind of momentum going into March. On Tuesday night, it’ll just be trying to break a 3-game losing streak while also trying to play spoiler in slowing down the streaking Longhorns on their home court.
It won’t be easy, of course, and ESPN’s BPI doesn’t believe the Tigers have a good chance to pull off the big upset. LSU is a double-digit underdog on Tuesday night in Austin, as Texas looks to take care of business at home and keep that roll going toward March.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
