College Basketball Betting Preview: Texas at Alabama

Ending a 2-game losing streak isn’t going to be easy for the Texas Longhorns as they take on the No. 13 Alabama Crimson Tide in a SEC tilt on Saturday. Bama rolled Kentucky in its SEC opener for its fourth straight win averaging nearly 97 points in that run.

Texas at Alabama Preview

With 6 losses already this season the Texas Longhorns are watching their NCAA Tournament hopes fade. They can pick up a quality win by beating Alabama when the teams meet on Saturday, January 10, 2026 at Coleman Coliseum. Tipoff is set for 8 p.m. ET on ESPN.

Public Betting Odds Factors

In their loss to No. 21 Tennessee on Tuesday, Horns’ coach Sean Miller benched several starters for most of the second half saying that guys, “just don’t want to compete.” Texas dropped its second straight, 85-71, after blowing a late lead in a home loss to Mississippi State a few days earlier.

We’ll see if Miller’s message gets through to his players. Leading scorer Dailyn Swain was one of the players benched. He averages more than 15 points but scored just 5 against the Vols.

Key contributors Jordan Pope and Matas Vokietaitis, who both average double figures in points, were also pinned to the bench in the second half. With a lineup of mostly reserves on the floor the Horns outscored Tennessee in the second half.

Effort wasn’t an issue with Alabama in a decisive 89-74 win over Kentucky. Aiden Holloway hit 6 of 8 3-pointers and scored 26 points for a team that ranks 7th in the country in scoring. Four players average more than 10 points per game and the Tide score 94.1 points per outing.

Sportsbooks have adjusted to Alabama’s up-tempo style with the college basketball spread total listed higher than 171 points in their last 6 games. The Tide cashed the UNDER in four of those games and are 7-7 against the total in their 14 games.

A high volume of 3-pointers has also helped Alabama’s scoring. The Tide leads the country with an average of 36.6 triples and is second nationally making 13.2 of those attempts per game. They are, however, outside the top 50 in 3-point accuracy at just 36.6 percent.

Texas at Alabama Predictions

The Horns can also score, averaging almost 88 points per game. And I expect their stars that were benched against Tennessee to have some kind of response. Between them Pope, Swain and Vokietaitis average 43 points but they combined for just 9 points against the Vols. They failed at Tennessee, but picking up a road win against a ranked foe will look good on their resume.

Expect Alabama to launch 3-pointers at a high rate. Against Kentucky the Tide was 15 of 38 from behind the arc and this isn’t a new phenomenon. Since the 2019-20 season Bama now has 34 games in which it made 15 or more 3-pointers, the second most among DI teams in that span.

Texas at Alabama Betting Tips

Alabama is 6-1 at home with its only loss to then No. 2 Purdue in November. They covered the college basketball spread in 3 of those 7 games and are 7-7 ATS overall.

All 3 of Alabama’s losses were to ranked opponents, including to No. 1 Arizona last month. The Tide responded by winning each of their next four games by double digits.

Texas is 1-2 on the road with losses to ranked teams UConn and Tennessee. The lone victory was over DII Chaminade.

The Horns have scored more than 90 points in 7 of their last 11 games going over the posted total 8 times.

Texas at Alabama Head to Head and Key Stats

There’s not much recent history between the programs with most of the matchups taking place before the 1970’s. They met for the first time in nearly a decade last season in Austin with Alabama posting a 103-80 victory.