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No. 9 Texas hosts Stanford on Tuesday
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Published: 12/23/2014  at  4:54:00 AM
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STANFORD CARDINAL (6-3)

at TEXAS LONGHORNS (10-1)

Frank Erwin Center – Austin, TX
Tip-off: Tuesday, 7:00 p.m. ET
Line: Texas -11, Total: 127.5

No. 9 Texas looks to continue its terrific start on Tuesday night when it hosts Stanford.

Texas (7-2 ATS) has been one of the best teams in college basketball, as its lone loss was a very competitive game at No. 1 Kentucky. One of the biggest reasons for success has been because of a defense allowing only 53.4 PPG (6th in the nation) on 31.4% FG. The most points the Longhorns have given up all season is 68 in Saturday's 10-point win over Long Beach State. The one non-conference loss would be the fewest for the Longhorns since the 2009 season, when they started out 17-0. Stanford (4-5 ATS) experienced some success against Big 12 teams last season, as it defeated Kansas in the third round of the NCAA Tournament. The Cardinal have three losses on the season, but falling to Duke on a neutral court (by 11 points) and at BYU (by two points) are not bad defeats. An 87-72 loss at 8-point underdog DePaul was the only horrible result. For Johnny Dawkins’ team to make a run back to the NCAA Tournament, it is going to have to start playing better away from home, where it is 1-3 SU (2-2 ATS). Stanford is 17-6 ATS in the past two seasons after having won two of its past three games, while Texas is 55-39 ATS at home versus very good teams (8+ PPG margin) under head coach Rick Barnes. Neither school has any recent injuries of note.

Can Stanford keep the final margin to within single-digits? For the latest college basketball picks, check out The Platinum Sheet for all the Expert picks. The five experts are led by StatFox Gary's strong 60% ATS record (18-12), while StatFox Zach is 57% ATS (17-13) and StatFox Brian is 53% ATS (16-14) to open the season.

Stanford enters this game ranked 68th in the country on the glass (38.1 RPG), which will be huge as Texas is one of the best teams in the country on the boards. The Cardinal also rank 87th in the nation scoring (72.8 PPG), 137th in assists (13.4 APG) and 144th in shooting (44.2% FG). On defense, Stanford allows 64.0 PPG (141st in nation) on 41.3% FG. The offense of the Cardinal starts with SG Chasson Randle (18.9 PPG, 3.6 RPG, 2.7 APG). The combo guard averaged 18.8 PPG last season against Top 25 teams during the regular season, showing he plays his best in the team’s biggest games. He is shooting 44-of-47 from the free throw line this season, and he has had two games where he has gotten to the line at least 10 times. With C Stefan Nastic (15.1 PPG, 7.2 RPG, 2.4 APG) down low, the Cardinal have a big man that can take over a game with his scoring. The 6-foot-11 senior has scored at least 10 points in all nine games this season, including a strong 20-point, 9-rebound performance in Saturday's loss at BYU. Senior SF Anthony Brown (12.6 PPG, 7.3 RPG, 2.6 APG) is the glue guy on the team, but has gone cold over the past two games with just 6.5 PPG on 5-of-16 FG (31%) and 1-of-8 threes.

The Longhorns have been dominant all season long, especially on the glass, ranking third in the country with 45.1 RPG. They also hold opponents to an NCAA-low 31.5 RPG, and rank fourth in the nation in blocks (7.6 BPG). Texas' offense is also solid, scoring 72.9 PPG (85th in NCAA) on 46.2% FG (76th in nation) with 14.2 APG (97th in NCAA). Those numbers are even more impressive because starting PG Isaiah Taylor (15 PPG, 4 RPG and 3 APG) has missed the past eight games with a broken wrist. He is still out a few more weeks, so Texas will need to continue to dominate inside. SF Jonathan Holmes (12.5 PPG, 6.9 RPG, 46% threes) and PF Myles Turner (11.9 PPG, 6.7 RPG) are one of the best frontcourt duos in college basketball. Turner has been everything Texas could have wished for when it signed the freshman. He is a highly skilled post player, who plays both ends of the court (2.9 BPG) and has made 89% FT including 16 in a row. Filling the void for Taylor has been a combination of SG Demarcus Holland (8.6 PPG, 3.7 RPG, 2.7 APG, 53% threes), PG Kendal Yancy (5.7 PPG, 3.5 RPG, 2.3 APG) and SG Javan Felix (9.1 PPG, 36% threes), who have played well in their respective roles. After a slow start to the season, C Cameron Ridley (8.5 PPG, 3.9 RPG, 1.4 BPG) has averaged 11.7 PPG and 5.7 RPG during the team's three-game win streak. SF Connor Lammert (6.2 PPG) has a team-high 7.7 RPG despite playing only 25.4 MPG. In his past four games, he has pulled down 40 rebounds. These two big men could be the focal point of most college offenses, but have done a nice job in creating depth for this elite Longhorns frontcourt.


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