Arkansas vs Texas Tech Best Bets: Razorbacks Live for Upset (March 27)

The second week of the NCAA Tournament is upon us with the Sweet 16 set to begin with tenth-seeded Arkansas taking on No. 3 seed Texas Tech.

Fresh off a huge win over St. John's, the Razorbacks will look to take aim at another giant in the West Region -- and their inside focus could be of great use against the Red Raiders.

(Photo by Wesley Hitt/Getty Images)

Let's take a look at the best way to bet on Arkansas vs Texas Tech in the Sweet 16 on Thursday, March 27.

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College Basketball Best Bets Today: Arkansas vs Texas Tech

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Arkansas vs Texas Tech Best Bet

Arkansas +5.5 (-110) at DraftKings Sportsbook

John Calipari has done a phenomenal job with the Razorbacks this March, taking a team bereft of elite talent to great heights with two quality wins over Kansas and St. John's.

This has been building. Arkansas played a tight game with Auburn -- one of the best teams in the country -- back in February before beating Texas and narrowly missing the quarters of the SEC Tournament after a heartbreaking loss to Ole Miss.

Arkansas has made it to this point off the strength of its defense. It ranks 19th in efficiency on that end and is coming off a stunning win over St. John's where it held the Johnnies to just 2-of-22 from deep and suffocated them to the tune of 28% shooting.

St. John's doesn't have quite the same kind of offense which Texas Tech has, nor does it have a star player quite as good as JT Toppin. This will be a real test for Arkansas, which will need Jonas Aidoo to slow down Toppin inside, but the good news is that the Razorbacks shut down Kansas' talented frontcourt in the first round and still played incredible defense against St. John's despite forward Zuby Ejiofor going off.

What I like here is that Arkansas has stopped the outside shot pretty well in the last two months other than a couple of isolated incidents -- one of which was against Kansas -- but rests on its interior defense to win games.

It was able to totally take the 3 away from Auburn earlier this season while performing relatively well inside against an incredible offense, and I have enough faith here to take the underdogs with a ton to like on the other side of the ball.

Arkansas' offense is very guard-heavy, and Texas Tech has struggled against smaller players. Not only are the Red Raiders down in 37th on the defensive end, but they've allow 47% or better from 3 in two of their last four games.

The Razorbacks should be able to win the war of attrition on the perimeter and make this a contest, and if last game is any indication it should even be able to survive a big game from Toppin. We saw Texas Tech struggle at times against a similarly-constructed Drake team and there's plenty more to love about Calipari's group.

If looking for March Madness tournament schedules, matchup breakdowns, and expert picks, head to our March Madness section.