Game Info
Good Guys: Texas Tech Red Raiders (4-1, 0-0)
Bad Guys: Abilene Christian Wildcats (5-0, 0-0)
When to Watch: Wednesday, December 9th @ 6:00 p.m.
Where to Watch: United Supermarkets Arena | Lubbock, Texas
How to Watch: ESPN+ | WatchESPN ESPN+
How to Listen: 97.3 FM | Affiliates | TuneIn App
The Line: None at the time of posting
Advanced Stats
| TEXAS TECH | ABILENE CHRISTIAN | |
|---|---|---|
| KenPom | 5 | 126 |
| KP AdjO | 30 | 187 |
| KP AdjD | 1 | 78 |
| T-Rank | 4 | 97 |
| T-Rank O | 37 | 164 |
| T-Rank D | 1 | 33 |
| Haslemetric | 3 | 130 |
Lineups
| THE STARTERS | Pts / Reb | |
|---|---|---|
| POINT GUARD | Mac McClung (6-2/185) | 17.2 / 2.8* |
| SHOOTING GUARD | Kyler Edwards (6-4/195) | 10.2 / 4.2* |
| SMALL FORWARD | Terrence Shannon, Jr. (6-6/210) | 11.2 / 4.2 |
| POWER FORWARD | Micah Peavy (6-7/215) | 6.8 / 2.6 |
| CENTER | Marcus Santos-Silva (6-7/245) | 7.4 / 8.2 |
| THE BENCH | Pts / Reb | |
| SIXTH MAN | Jamarius Burton (6-4/205) | 5.8 / 2.6* |
| SEVENTH MAN | Nimari Burnett (6-4/195) | 5.8 / 1.8 |
| EIGHTH MAN | Tyreek Smith (6-7/220) | 4.4 / 2.8 |
| NINTH MAN | Chibuzo Agbo (6-7/215) | 2.8 / 1.8 |
| TENTH MAN | Clarence Nadolny (6-3/190) | 1.8 / 0.8 |
| ELEVENTH MAN | Vladislov Goldin (7-0/240) | 5.0 / 3.5 |
| TWELFTH MAN | Avery Benson (6-4/195) | 1.7 / 1.3 |
| THIRTEENTH MAN | Kevin McCullar (6-6/195) | – / – |
| THE STARTERS | Pts / Reb | |
| POINT GUARD | Damien Daniels (5-7/140) | 6.0 / 3.4* |
| SHOOTING GUARD | Reggie Miller (6-0/150) | 5.6 / 3.6* |
| SMALL FORWARD | Coryon Mason (6-0/190) | 8.6 / 1.8 |
| POWER FORWARD | Airion Simmons (6-5/264) | 5.2 / 4.2 |
| CENTER | Kolton Kohl (7-0/240) | 11.3 / 5.6 |
| THE BENCH | Pts / Reb | |
| SIXTH MAN | Clay Gayman (6-6/220) | 9.8 / 3.4 |
| SEVENTH MAN | Joe Pleasant (6-8/220) | 7.8 / 3.5 |
| EIGHTH MAN | Immanuel Allen (6-4/215) | 6.6 / 2.8 |
| NINTH MAN | Mahki Morris (6-3/184) | 4.2 / 1.0 |
| TENTH MAN | Logan McLaughlin (6-1/185) | 5.8 / 2.2 |
* Assists.
Starting 5
1. Stats. Hey, this could be a fun game! And when I write “fun” I mean that it could be an absolute meat-grinder of a defensive slug-fest that results in both teams beating each other to a pulp. That’s probably too much, but that’s okay. ACU is terrifc defensively, 33rd in the nation in AdjD, 46th in eFG% and 5th (!) in turnover percentage. So they are pretty much great in every metric except for offensive rebounding and free throw rate. Interesting, Texas Tech is actually good at offensive rebounding, 53rd, and free throw rate, 22nd. That should be interesting. For some comparison stats, Texas Tech is 1st in AdjD, 8th in eFG%, and 7th in turnover percentage.
2. Scouting. Kohl is the best player, has the ball in his hands a ton, is an excellent offensive rebounder as well as on the defensive end too. Allen has the best offensive rating on the team in comparison to usage rate, shoots the ball incredibly well, almost entirely inside the arc. ACU’s best trait is on the defensive end of things and I’m fascinated as to how that all works.
3. How They Match Up. Abilene Christian essentially starts a 5’7″ point guard, with two 6’0″ guards, a small forward that weighs 265, and a seven-footer. That’s awesome. I have no idea how this will work out, Texas Tech isn’t particularly deep in terms of guards that are that small, so I’m interested to see how that goes. Generally speaking, this should be a game where Texas Tech has the advantage in 4 of 5 positions. I’m not sure how Santos-Silva manages a seven-footer and I’m guessing that Smith and Goldin get lots of burn tonight.
4. Reading Material. Well, this may mean the end to the section called “Reading Material”. I’ve always figured out a way to read the LAJ articles and to offer a bit of the article. That may have ended. We’ll see. In lieu of that, let’s look at these uniforms which are absolutely terrific.
These colors don’t break. They break backboards.
Tomorrow, we honor the strong who came before us.
🗣 Darvin Ham pic.twitter.com/MEhd0aqxv0
— Texas Tech Basketball (@TexasTechMBB) December 9, 2020
5. Official Site. The official site has their preview right here:
“We like our balance this season,” said Beard in a preseason press conference. “It’s as many returners as we’ve ever had with guys who were in our rotation. To have seven guys on our roster from last year is something we’re hoping pays dividends this year. With the new players, we still stayed old with our transfers who can impact games from the first day.”