What is the Spread on the Texas vs. Washington College Basketball Game in China?
Carrie Stroup here with your spread on the Texas vs. Washington NCAA College Basketball game, marking the start of the season.
TEXAS LONGHORNS (0-0) vs. WASHINGTON HUSKIES (0-0)
Sportsbook.ag Line: Texas -11, Total: 151
Washington and Texas tip off their seasons in Shanghai on Friday night, marking the first time a regular season NCAA or NBA game has been played in China.
Not only will Washington and Texas be playing in unfamiliar territory when they step into Mercedes-Benz Arena in Shanghai on Friday evening, most viewers watching at home won’t recognize these teams either. Texas has many returning players for sure, but made arguably the biggest splash in the offseason by prying coach Shaka Smart away from VCU to replace long-time Longhorn boss Rick Barnes (now at Tennessee). Smart will bring his unique brand of full-court “Havoc” with him from years of success at VCU and try to enforce his team’s relentless play on Big 12 opponents.
First, Smart will have to do it against Lorenzo Romar’s almost-unrecognizable Huskies squad. With just one key contributor (senior G Andrew Andrews – 15.0 PPG) returning and nine newcomers, Washington could either be well-prepared for the future, or this could be Romar’s swan song if the Huskies don’t show immediate promise.
The Longhorns finished the 2014-15 season with a 20-14 record, losing their first game in the NCAA Tournament to Butler, and scoring only 48 points in the process. Texas was 11-3 SU and 8-5 ATS in non-conference play last season and 3-2 SU and 3-1-1 ATS at a neutral site.
Washington finished up 16-15, with no postseason play after a two-point defeat to Stanford in the Pac-12 Tournament. The Huskies started out of the gate strong last season at 11-0, but then wilted in conference play due to the suspension of arguably their best player (C Robert Upshaw) and proceeded to lose 11 of their final 13 games. Washington was 11-1 SU and 6-5 ATS against non-conference opponents with Upshaw last season, and finished 5-1 (SU and ATS) in neutral-site games.
With coach Shaka Smart’s penchant for speed on both ends of the floor, there aren’t too many players in the country better suited for an up-and-down game than Longhorns returning junior G Isaiah Taylor (13.1 PPG, 4.6 APG). Taylor can score and distribute, but effort on the defensive end will be what Smart is looking for from his junior leader.
C Cameron Ridley (8 PPG, 5.3 RPG, 1.7 BPG) is back and supposedly buying into the system, too. Ridley ceded lots of minutes last season to NBA Draft lottery pick, Myles Turner, but still has double-double potential if he can maximize the extra minutes he’s in line for this season. A chance to feast on an incredibly green Washington frontcourt could lead to some easy opportunities for Ridley in the opener.
Seniors F Connor Lammert (5.1 PPG, 5.4 RPG) and C Prince Ibeh (2.1 PPG, 1.4 BPG) also return. Joining Taylor in the backcourt are steady seniors G Javan Felix (8.7 PPG) and G Demarcus Holland (7.1 PPG) as well as junior G Kendall Yancy (6.3 PPG). All those guards have flexibility to play on and off the ball, and given Smart’s 10-man rotations in the past, all will get minutes.
That said, the X-factors for this year’s Longhorns might very well be the heralded trio of athletic freshmen guards -- 6-foot-6 Tevin Mack, 6-foot-3 Kerwin Roach Jr. and 6-foot-3 Eric Davis Jr. – that Smart can deploy. The three consensus top-100 recruits combined for 44 points and eight threes between them in the Longhorns’ exhibition win.
Lorenzo Romar’s Huskies are a true mystery as they head off to China. Washington has an unenviable task of taking a rotation of as many as 8 newcomers against a Shaka Smart led team. Gone is mostly everyone who contributed for them last season, none more important than the transfer of former stalwart PG Nigel Williams-Goss to Washington’s friend in the Pacific Northwest, Gonzaga. The loss of Williams-Goss can’t be understated, as he was set to be Washington’s returning scoring and assists leader, forming a formidable 1-2 punch with SG Andrew Andrews, who play mostly point guard to replace Williams-Goss.
Andrews will now face an undeniably huge role as a senior leader, as well as the responsibility of creating offense for himself and his inexperienced teammates. The 6-foot-2 senior guard was unstoppable down the stretch for the Huskies last season, averaging 20.9 PPG (43% threes) over his final eight games and scored the most points in Pac-12 play (16.6 PPG) of any returning player. Andrews against Taylor should be worth the price of admission on Friday night.
The only other returning rotation player for Romar is slender sophomore F Donaven Dorsey (3.8 PPG). If exhibition box scores are a worthy enough predictor, the Huskies look to be starting four new players against Texas in China – all of them freshmen (with as many as six freshmen potentially seeing significant minutes). In 6-foot-5 G Dejounte Murray, Romar has a consensus top-50 recruit from Rainier Beach to fire up the home base and provide production next to Andrews in the backcourt. Six-foot-8 F Noah Dickerson gives Romar a freshman from a top high school program (Monteverde, FL) who should see plenty of frontcourt minutes.
Freshman F Marquess Chriss is an athletic dual-sport star that will see plenty of time as well, and freshman G David Crisp shared a high school backcourt with the aforementioned Murray. F Dominic Green is less heralded, but Romar lauds his shooting ability. These five combined for 64 points in the Huskies’ recent exhibition win.
- Carrie Stroup, Gambling911.com Senior Reporter
