Free Pick | NCAA | Thursday | Nov. 20

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#735/736 UNDER 145.5 Tarleton State at Rice 7:00 PM CT

Tarleton State has already played three top 50 major conference teams, allowing scoring in the 90s to boost the game averages for Billy Gillispie’s team. The Texans are 3-0 in the other games and have allowed an average of 64 points per game in the wins. The pace of play for this team skews slower than average with a high turnover rate and marginal interior scoring. The program has ranked among the slower teams in the nation in three of Gillispie’s now six seasons in Stephenville and there is a good chance that it will be the case again once the schedule evens out after playing up often so far in November. Rice has been an ultra-slow tempo team for Rob Lanier, even if his past track record at Georgia State and SMU was mixed. Rice allowed 91 points in a higher scoring game Monday vs. Tennessee but there were 47 free throw attempts in that game to boost the ‘over’ pace. Rice has not scored more than 69 points in any of its four Division I games and that is even with 40 percent 3-point shooting so far this season, not something that the Owls can count on moving forward. Both teams lack go-to interior scorers as Rice has shot below 36 percent inside the arc and Tarleton State has shot 48 percent inside the arc so far this season. Deep shot clocks and forced shots in less than ideal situations will likely be common tonight.