Five February Texas Tech basketball games that the Red Raiders must win

Texas Tech needs to avoid a losing streak by beating Cincinnati

At first glance, this Saturday's game against Cincinnati doesn't appear to be all that intriguing. The Bearcats are just 14-7 overall and 3-5 in Big 12 play so they are far from a marquee opponent.

Thus, winning that game won't be considered a huge accomplishment nor would it be a Quad-1 win. However, losing that game would be disastrous.

First of all, Tech is coming off of a loss to TCU on Tuesday. If the Red Raiders want to avoid the season's first losing streak, then they can't stumble against Cincy.

What's more, the next game takes Grant McCasland's team to Waco to face Baylor on Tuesday. That's a tough place to win so if Tech doesn't triumph on Saturday, it could lead to a three-game losing streak and that would essentially kill any Big 12 title hopes.

Texas Tech has a 70.8% chance of coming out on top in this one according to the ESPN.com matchup predictor. That prediction needs to come to fruition so that Tech can maintain its momentum and find a way to keep pace with the top teams in the league.