Game Info
Good Guys: Texas Tech Red Raiders (4-0, 0-0)
Bad Guys: Nebraska Cornhuskers (4-0, 0-0)
When to Watch: Tuesday, November 20th @ 8:30 p.m.
Where to Watch: Sprint Center | Kansas City, Missouri
How to Watch: ESPN2 | WatchESPN
How to Listen: 97.3 FM | Affiliates | TuneIn App
The Line: Nebraska -2 (OddsShark)
Advanced Stats
| Texas Tech | Nebraska | |
|---|---|---|
| KenPom | 20 | 23 |
| KP AdjO | 46 | 24 |
| KP AdjD | 6 | 23 |
| T-Rank | 20 | 16 |
| T-Rank O | 64 | 28 |
| T-Rank D | 3 | 12 |
| Haslemetric | N/A | N/A |
Lineups
| THE STARTERS | Pts / Reb | |
|---|---|---|
| POINT GUARD | Davide Moretti (6-3/175) | 12.8 / 3.3* |
| SHOOTING GUARD | Matt Mooney (6-3/200) | 11.0 / 5.0* |
| SMALL FORWARD | Jarrett Culver (6-5/195) | 16.8 / 4.5* |
| POWER FORWARD | Tariq Owens (6-10/205) | 8.8 / 3.8 |
| CENTER | Norense Odiase (6-9/245) | 5.5 / 7.8 |
| THE BENCH | Pts / Reb | |
| SIXTH MAN | Kyler Edwards (6-3/200) | 5.5 / 2.0 |
| SEVENTH MAN | Brandone Francis (6-5/215) | 4.5 / 3.0 |
| EIGHTH MAN | Deshawn Corprew (6-5/210) | 7.0 / 3.8 |
| NINTH MAN | Malik Ondigo (6-10/215) | 2.5 / 2.5 |
| TENTH MAN | Josh Mballa (6-7/215) | 0.7 / 1.0 |
| ELEVENTH MAN | Khavon Moore (6-7/215) | – |
| THE STARTERS | Pts / Reb | |
| POINT GUARD | Glynn Watson, Jr. (6-0/180) | 16.3 / 4.5* |
| SHOOTING GUARD | Thomas Allen (6-1/184) | 7.8 / 2.8* |
| SMALL FORWARD | James Palmer, Jr. (6-6/207) | 17.8 / 3.5* |
| POWER FORWARD | Isaac Copeland, Jr. (6-9/225) | 15.5 / 6.0 |
| CENTER | Isaiah Roby (6-8/230) | 9.0 / 5.8 |
| THE BENCH | Pts / Reb | |
| SIXTH MAN | Nana Akenten (6-6/218) | 10.0 / 2.0 |
| SEVENTH MAN | Amir Harris (6-6/205) | 2.8 / 4.3 |
| EIGHTH MAN | Tanner Borchardt (6-8/250) | 2.0 / 4.5 |
| NINTH MAN | Brady Heiman (6-11/215) | 5.0 / 5.5 |
| TENTH MAN | Thorir Thorbjarnarson (6-6/206) | 3.0 / 2.0 |
* Assists.
Starting 5
1. Stats. These are two very evenly matched teams. Nebraska is probably the more balanced team thus far, but a performance like last night for Texas Tech certainly helps the offense a bit, although the T-Rank numbers doesn’t seem to like the Texas Tech numbers as much as the defense. I find that interesting. Nebraska is darn near elite at holding opponents at eFG% and force a bunch of turnovers as well.
2. Scouting. Watson is probably Nebraska’s best player, most efficient for sure, while Copeland is right there behind him. The reason why Palmer as highly regarded is because Palmer doesn’t shot as well even though he’s the leading scorer. Palmer shoots 39% from the field and 19% from the three-point line, while Watson, 60% and 56%, and Copeland, 60% and 36%, are much more effective shooters. It would maybe be to Texas Tech’s benefit to just let Palmer jack up a bunch of shots, but really clamp down on Watson and Copeland. And Palmer really is high volume as he has the most three-point attempts on the team.
3. How They Match Up. Last night, Norense didn’t see as many second half minutes, but Nebraksa plays a bit more traditional I think in that they’ll maybe play 3 guards/wings and 2 bigs, whereas USC would run out just 1 big for the majority of the game, which meant that Corprew and Francis saw more time at the forward spot. We’re also about to see how deep thee teams are, both teams are coming off of back-to-back games and the starters for Texas Tech saw a ton of minutes, but so did Nebraska’s.
4. Reading Material. A-J Media:
“We were just sluggish in the first half and that’s just not us. That’s not me. … We just can’t let that happen,” Mooney said. “So second half, I just wanted to bring the energy, got a couple of steals and got them in transition a little bit. Once we got some shots, it got contagious.”
With the victory, Texas Tech (4-0) advance to the championship game to play former Big 12 member Nebraska (4-0) at 8:30 p.m. Tuesday in the same venue.
“I’ve only seen Nebraska play one time. I watched their game just on television,” Texas Tech coach Chris Beard said of Nebraska. “So now we’ll dig in (Monday night). But I know this: they’re really good. They look to me like an obvious Sweet 16 type team on paper.”
Wichital Falls Times Record News’ Andy Newberry:
“I can’t really talk about halftime,” Beard said. “I got three daughters and I like my paycheck.
“We have some guys who want to be coached. We had two things going on. First, it was effort, toughness, who were are, our DNA, I wasn’t pleased with that. And basketball, we weren’t playing well.”
Beard knows coaching at basically every level. Respect goes both ways. The want to be better than before has to as well. So I asked him know many times he can expect to do what he did Monday night? How many times can they be challenged like that?
“I was actually thinking about that when I walked back to the floor for the second half,” Beard admitted. “Truth telling, it sounds like a given. We don’t waste a lot of time; we don’t have time to play mind games. We go to work every day to get better, we understand what the competition is in a tournament like this and in our league. We start that in recruiting. We recruit guys who want to be coached hard and be told the truth.”
5. Official Site. No official preview. Too quick of a turnaround from last night.