Oklahoma vs Baylor Odds: Bears Good-Sized Favorites
Baylor Looks to Bounce Back After Kansas Loss
The No. 25 Oklahoma Sooners visit the No. 12 Baylor Bears for a key Big 12 Conference game Tuesday. Both NCAAB teams are a ways back of Houston and Iowa State and can’t afford another conference loss. The Sooners bring a modest two-game winning streak into the contest. The Bears saw their three-game winning streak snapped by Kansas last game. The Oklahoma vs Baylor odds show the Bears are favored by 6.5 points. The total on the game is at 143.5 points.
Sooners vs Bears 
Day/Time:
Location: Foster Pavilion, Waco, Texas
Sooners Ride Defense to Wins
The Oklahoma Sooners aren’t a bad offensive team. But it’s the defense that Oklahoma counts on when it needs a victory. The Sooners are No. 18 in the KenPom adjusted defensive ratings, but No. 6 in the Big 12. That’s due to a soft pre-season college basketball schedule and much tougher competition in conference.
Still, the Sooners are holding teams to 41.3% shooting in Big 12 games. Oklahoma is best in the conference in 3-point defense and preventing offensive rebounds. The Sooners are last in forcing turnovers and their 2-point defense is pretty much middle-of-the-road.
Offensively, the Sooners are No. 9 in offensive efficiency. Oklahoma doesn’t shoot particularly well. But the Sooners don’t make a lot of turnovers and are solid at getting to the foul line. Oklahoma is a better 2-point shooting team than it is from 3-point range. The Sooners don’t get many offensive rebounds and are No. 11 in the Big 12.
For the season, Oklahoma is 18-6 straight-up and 13-11 against the spread. The Sooners are 11-13 in totals, including 4-7 in Big 12 games. Oklahoma is 3-3 as an underdog and really don’t have many trends either for or against. The Sooners are 5-4 ATS away from home and also in totals.
Baylor Pounds the Offensive Boards
The Bears are a solid shooting team, averaging 48.9% from the field for the season. In Big 12 games that dips to 43.9%, with 3-point shooting dropping quite a bit. Baylor shoots 40.7% on 3-pointers for the year, but just 33.2% in conference play.
The Bears do a solid job hitting the offensive boards, ranking No. 3 in the conference in offensive rebounds. That helps boost Baylor’s 2-point shooting percentage, which is 50.4% in the conference. The Bears make a few more turnovers than you’d like to see, but get to the line a fair number of times per game.
Langston Love, one of the best 3-point shooters in the country, missed last game the NCAAB injuries that seem to occur around this time of the year.
The Bears’ defense has been pretty average in Big 12 games. Baylor allows teams to shoot 53.5% on 2-pointers, which is simply too high. The Bears are a little better than average in forcing turnovers and solid when it comes to preventing offensive rebounds. Baylor does a better than average job of not sending the opposition to the foul line.
The Bears are a solid 14-7-1 against the spread this season. Baylor is strong as a favorite, going 11-5 ATS, and are solid at home. The Bears are 10-5 ATS when playing a team with a winning record. So the Bears are able to get up for the bigger NCAAB games.
What to Expect
For a team that averages 82.4 points per game, the Bears play a deliberate style. Baylor is No. 14 in the Big 12 Conference in time per possession, using up 19.4 seconds each time it has the ball. Getting second chances definitely helps the Bears put points on the NCAAB scoreboard.
The Sooners use 17.8 seconds per possession, which is No. 8 in the Big 12. Oklahoma doesn’t like to run a lot and may go along with Baylor’s style. The Sooners don’t mind getting into a half court game.
Who to Bet On?
The Oklahoma vs Baylor odds of the Bears -6.5 might be a shade high. But the Sooners don’t really have what you could call many close losses this season.
Of the six times Oklahoma was defeated, four of them came by double-digits. The Sooners lost by one and by nine in the other two games. Based on Oklahoma’s previous NCAAB stats, the spread looks like it won’t come into play here.
The Oklahoma vs Baylor odds on the total might be a shade lower than expected. The Bears have a slight over tendency and both teams can get to the foul line.
The over/under here could very well be decided by the officials and how much they let the players play. If the referees swallow their whistles, this one has a pretty good chance of going under the total. There isn’t a whole lot of value in the under, but it looks to be the best way to go in this game.
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