Free Pick | NCAA HOOPS | Dec. 12

Nelly’s Basketball has delivered FIVE consecutive winning weeks through Dec. 11! Join us for 2-for-1 tonight or play the rest of December!

Free Pick Monday: #805 Rice +25.5 over Texas 7:00 PM CT

Rice has won five straight games and while there is not much substance in the win column, the Owls are a good scoring team that can put up decent numbers for Scott Pera’s up-tempo offense. This is a huge leap in class, and Rice was blown out in two November games vs. the top rated teams on the schedule so far. A Texas squad that has been nationally relevant at 7-1 with wins over Gonzaga and Creighton is going to be in a difficult situation Monday night with head coach Chris Beard arrested Monday morning. He obviously won’t be coaching this game, and possibly never again, with serious charges levied against him to put the season and the careers of the players and staff for the Longhorns in flux. Texas has played two teams ranked in the mid-200s like Rice and won by 15 and 25 in those games. Texas is not a strong outside shooting team nor a good free throw shooting team as there will likely be some points left off the scoreboard in this contest with some inefficiency in the game plan and effort likely tonight. Rice is a lousy defensive team but does rebound well on the defensive end and it is difficult to envision a crips performance from the favored Longhorns tonight.