Baylor Bears vs. TCU Horned Frogs Prediction & Game Preview - 1/8/2022

Time: 5 p.m. ET

Venue: Ed and Rae Schollmaier Arena, Fort Worth, TX

Where to watch: BIG12/ESPN+

DraftKings: Baylor -9.5

BetMGM: Baylor -9.5

Caesars: Baylor -9.5

No. 1 Baylor: 14-0 (2-0 Big 12)

TCU: 10-1 

Baylor: won 84-74 vs. Oklahoma on Jan. 4

TCU: won 90-55 vs. Grambling on Dec. 21

The top-ranked Baylor Bears will try to move to 15-0 and keep things even-keeled for the defending national champions when they visit the TCU Horned Frogs on Saturday.

Baylor's title defense has come with a nice mix of taking care of easy opponents while showing they're better than some of the top teams in the country. Following their 5-point road win at Iowa State on New Year's Day, the Bears answered back to win 84-74 against the Oklahoma Sooners at home on Jan. 4.

James Akinjo continued his Player of the Year candidacy with 27 points on 10 of 15 shooting to go along with five assists; that offsets the seven turnovers he had, but I digress. Backcourt mate Adam Flagler chipped in with 22 points on 8 of 14 shooting, as Baylor shot close to 57 percent from the floor.

But Flagler also had five turnovers, giving him and Akinjo 12 of Baylor's 20 for the game.

"It really upsets us," said Flagler. "We don't really worry about the points, but we have the ball in our hands a lot, so when we are turning it over, we're hurting our team. And that's the last thing we want."

"I don't even want to look at it," Akinjo added.

That's really a testament to how good the Bears are right now. Their two stars can have still score as much as they did, combine for more than half of their team's points, still turn the ball over a ton, and come to the realization that they'll learn from this and get better.

This road contest with TCU won't be a walk in the park, either. The Frogs have not played since Dec. 21 due to COVID issues surrounding the program, but TCU is off to one of its best starts in program history winning 10 of its first 11.

The latest was a 90-55 win over Grambling before Christmas. Charles O'Bannon Jr. finished with 19 points while making four 3-pointers, and Emmanuel Miller had 18 points and 10 rebounds in 25 minutes of play.

TCU won this game without guard and leading scorer Mike Miles, who was out due to a non-COVID related illness. Miles, despite shooting 38.5 percent from the floor, is averaging 16.9 points and almost five assists per game.

Baylor is only 8-5-1 against the spread this season and did not cover the last three, although by narrow margins. The over has cashed in Baylor's last five, while the over has also gone over in TCU's last four. It's fair to expect this game going over and being a high-scoring affair, and I think TCU keeps this close for a good portion of the game before Baylor pulls away with a narrow cover. Baylor by 12

Baylor is 45-28 ATS in its past three seasons while 68-6 straight up.

Baylor is 27-13 ATS in its last 40 after playing only the second game in the week.

Baylor is 1-8 ATS after three or more overs.

TCU is 11-24 ATS in its last 35 home games.

PG: James Akinjo

SG: Adam Flagler
SF: Matthew Mayer
PF: Kendall Brown
C: Flo Thamba

PG: Mike Miles

SG: Damion Baugh
SF: Emmanuel Miller
PF: Charles O'Bannon Jr.
C: Eddie Lampkin