No.2 Tigers tangle with Red Raiders

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

01/28/2012 - Columbia, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The second-ranked Missouri Tigers set their sights on getting back on track, as they welcome the Texas Tech Red Raiders to Columbia this afternoon, for a Big 12 matchup at Mizzou Arena.

Frank Haith's Tigers are coming off just their second loss of the season, as Missouri suffered a 79-72 decision at Oklahoma State this week. The loss ended a four-game win streak for Missouri and dropped it to 5-2 in league play.

Billy Gillespie's first season in Lubbock has been a struggle, as the Red Raiders are five games under .500 at 7-12 overall. A decent season heading into conference play has gone horribly wrong, as Texas Tech is winless in the Big 12 and brings an ugly seven-game slide into this contest. The team was last in action on Wednesday, a 69-47 blowout loss at the hands of Kansas State.

Missouri holds a 13-8 series advantage against Texas Tech thanks to wins in each of the last five meetings.

A lack of offense has certainly plagued the Red Raiders this season, as the team is averaging a mere 62.5 ppg. Those numbers have dipped even lower in league play, where Texas Tech is managing an anemic 53.3 ppg. There is no scoring depth to speak of on the roster. Jordan Tolbert is shooting a strong .566 from the floor, but it has resulted in a rather modest 12.8 ppg. Javarez Willis (8.5 ppg) and Ty Nurse (8.2 ppg) are next in the line in the scoring column. In the recent 22-point loss to Kansas State, the Red Raiders produced just 47 points, doing so on .375 shooting, including .231 from three-point range (3-of-13). The Red Raiders were also outrebounded 35-25 and turned the ball over a whopping 25 times, resulting in 27 points for the Wildcats.

The Tigers went scoreless for more than five minutes in the second half, turning en eight point lead into a loss in Stillwater. The loss spoiled another strong outing by forward Ricardo Ratliffe, who recorded his third double-double of the season with 25 points and 12 rebounds. Marcus Denmon poured in 17 points in the setback, but the usually strong shooting Tigers managed just 40 percent from the floor in the game, weighed down by an ugly 4- of-19 showing from behind the arc. It was a bit of an anomaly for Missouri when taking the season stats into consideration, as the Tigers are still shooting just over 50 percent from the floor (.503) and putting up 82.8 ppg. Scoring depth has rarely been a problem, as Missouri boasts of five players in double figures, led by Denmon's 17.7 ppg. Denmon is joined in the backcourt by Kim English (14.1 ppg) and the pair are lethal from long range, combining for 100 of the team's 158 three-pointers to date. Ratliffe (15.1 ppg, 7.1 rpg) has been a force down low and leads the Big 12 in field-goal percentage at .754. Michael Dixon (11.8 ppg) and Phil Pressey (10.1 ppg) round out the top scorers.

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NCAA Football Betting : USC's reward: Top spot in Top 25

NEW YORK (AP) -By staying away from the cupcakes, Southern California earned itself a slim new ranking.

No. 1 always seems to fit USC.

Southern California jumped two spots to No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25 on Tuesday, rewarded by voters for opening the season with a dominant performance on the road against a BCS conference opponent.

Georgia and Ohio State, the preseason Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, started their seasons with glorified scrimmages at home against FCS (formerly I-AA) teams. USC, however, traveled across country to face Virginia and could not have been more impressive in a 52-7 victory.

Georgia fell to No. 2 and Ohio State to No 3.

"We realize that rankings so early in a season are certainly fluid. But rankings do help establish a pecking order for things later in the season," USC coach Pete Carroll said in a statement. "As for moving into the No. 1 spot, it's nice to know that people think highly of our team."

Since reaching No. 1 on Dec. 7, 2003, the final-regular season AP poll of that season, USC has been No. 1 in 39 polls, by far the most of any team during that time.

"Some have said the voters are taking our schedule into consideration," Carroll said. "Our philosophy has always been to schedule outstanding opponents. We need to play challenging games like we just did, traveling across the country to open the season at Virginia. Games like that bring out our best and make us stronger as a team."

The latest voting was close. USC received 21 first-place votes and 1,539 points from the 65-member media panel. Georgia had 20 first-place votes and 1,506 points. Ohio State got 15 first-place votes and 1,497 points.

"I'd say we've evolved as pollsters," said Stewart Mandel of SI.com, who moved USC up to No. 1. "In the past, voters just kind of automatically moved teams up and kept teams where they were if they won."

Georgia beat Georgia Southern 45-21 on Saturday and Ohio State opened with a 43-0 win over Youngstown State.

"There's a bit of a growing backlash for the amount of teams that open with I-AA cupcakes," said Mandel, whose book "Bowls, Polls and Tattered Souls" chronicles college football's controversies. "To see a team [USC] go on the road and play a New Year's Day bowl team from last season, and not only play them but destroy them, how could you not reward that team?"

USC also jumped past Georgia to No. 1 in the USA Today coaches' poll, which has the same top five as the AP poll.

"It's definitely a privilege to be No. 1. But it's not heartbreaking to me if we drop," Georgia offensive lineman Josh Davis said. "It doesn't matter right now what we're ranked. What matters is our next game and right now, that's Central Michigan. The only time the polls matter is in December. That's when the polls matter."

While the Bulldogs opened easy, their schedule ultimately should be as difficult as any team's. Georgia's big nonconference test is at No. 15 Arizona State on Sept. 20. The Bulldogs also face six Southeastern Conference rivals that've been ranked in the first two polls.

As for Ohio State, the Buckeyes play at USC on Sept. 13 before getting into the Big Ten schedule.

But of the teams in this week's top 10, USC and Texas are the only ones that don't play an FCS opponent, and the Trojans are the only team that doesn't play a team from a non-BCS conference.

Get the latest 2009 BCS Championship odds at MySportsbook.com.

The last team to drop from No. 1 after a victory was USC last season. LSU jumped from No. 2 to No. 1 when it beat Tulane 34-9, the same week the Trojans edged Washington 27-24 on the road.

The last preseason No. 1 team to lose the top spot after winning its opening game was Florida in 2001. The Gators beat Marshall 49-14, but preseason No. 2 Miami opened with a 33-7 victory over Penn State and the Hurricanes jumped to No. 1 with Florida slipping to second.

The next four teams in the new Top 25 stayed the same: No. 4 Oklahoma (two first-place votes), No. 5 Florida (five first-place votes), No. 6 Missouri (one first-place vote), No. 7 LSU (one first-place vote) and No. 8 West Virginia.

No. 9 Auburn and No. 10 Texas each moved up a spot, taking advantage of Clemson's big drop. Clemson, ninth in the preseason, fell out after losing 34-10 to Alabama on Saturday.

Also falling out after losses were Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh and Tennessee.

Moving into the rankings were No. 21 Fresno State, No. 22 Utah, No. 23 UCLA and No. 24 South Carolina.

Alabama moved up 11 spots after its big victory over Clemson.

The second 10 started with No. 11 Wisconsin, followed by Texas Tech, Alabama and Kansas. BYU and Arizona State were tied for 15th. Rivals BYU and Utah are both ranked for the first time since 1996.

South Florida was No. 17, ahead of Oregon, Penn State and Wake Forest at No. 20.

The final five were all the teams to move into the ranking, except for Illinois, which dropped four spots and tied South Carolina for No. 24.

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