Preview & Game Day Thread: Texas Tech vs. West Virginia

Game Info

Good Guys: Texas Tech Red Raiders (17-5, 6-3)
Bad Guys: West Virginia Mountaineers (13-8, 2-6)
When to Watch: Saturday, February 5th @ 1:00 pm
Where to Watch: WVU Coliseum | Morgantown, West Virginia
How to Watch: ESPN | ESPN+
How to Listen: 97.3 FM | Affiliates | TuneIn App
The Line: Texas Tech -5

Advanced Stats

TEXAS TECH STAT WEST VIRGINIA
11
KenPom
44
54
KP AdjO
23
3
KP AdjD
93
8
T-Rank
61
53
T-Rank O
104
3
T-Rank D
37
11
Haslemetric
63

Lineups

TEXAS TECH
THE STARTERS Pts / Reb
POINT GUARD Kevin McCullar (6-6/210) 10.9 / 3.6*
SHOOTING GUARD Davion Warren (6-6/215) 10.3 / 2.9
SMALL FORWARD Terrence Shannon, Jr. (6-6/215) 11.1 / 2.5
POWER FORWARD Kevin Obanor (6-8/235) 10.7 / 5.1
CENTER Bryson Williams (6-8/240) 13.6 / 4.6
THE BENCH Pts / Reb
SIXTH MAN Marcus Santos-Silva (6-7/250) 5.0 / 4.2
SEVENTH MAN Adonis Arms (6-5/200) 8.0 / 4.0
EIGHTH MAN Mylik Wilson (6-3/175) 3.9 / 2.1*
NINTH MAN Daniel Batcho (6-11/235) 2.9 / 3.4
TENTH MAN Chibuzo Agbo (6-7/220) 1.6 / 1.3
ELEVENTH MAN Clarence Nadolny (6-3/200) 3.9 / 1.3
TWELFTH MAN KJ Allen (6-6/255) 2.3 / 1.4
THIRTEENTH MAN Austin Timperman (6-9/190) 0.0 / 0.0
WEST VIRGINIA
THE STARTERS Pts / Reb
POINT GUARD Sean McNeil (6-3/205) 13.4 / 1.5*
SHOOTING GUARD Kedrian Johnson (6-3/185) 5.0 / 2.0*
SMALL FORWARD Kobe Johnson (6-3/210) 1.7 / 0.7
POWER FORWARD Jalen Bridges (6-7/225) 8.7 / 5.2
CENTER Isaiah Cottrell (6-10/245) 4.0 / 2.5
THE BENCH Pts / Reb
SIXTH MAN Gabe Osabuohien (6-7/240) 5.1 / 5.6
SEVENTH MAN Dimon Carrigan (6-9/230) 1.9 / 3.0
EIGHTH MAN Malik Curry (6-1/190) 8.3 / 2.2
NINTH MAN Seny N’Diaye (6-10/245) 0.0 / 1.5
TENTH MAN Pauly Paulicap (6-8/235) 2.8 / 3.0

* Assists.

Starting 5

1. Stats. The offense is top third in the nation and without Taz Sherman, this could take a hit. He was quite good in Lubbock and without him could be an issue. Not a particularly good shooting team, 258th in eFG% and turnover the ball good for 153rd in the nation and 105th in the nation in offensive boards. What they do really well is get to the line, 41st in the nation. they also never get their shot blocked, 21st in the nation, but they just aren’t shooting well, 269th in 3-point shooting, 239th in 2-point shooting, and 253rd in free throw shooting. Defensively, WVU is very good, they are 16th in the nation in forcing turnovers and 37th in the nation in eFG%. They are terrific at defending the 3-point line, 80th in the nation, block percentage, 20th in the nation. The Mountaineers are very susceptible to offensive rebounds, 349th in the nation, which is near the bottom of Division I.

2. Scouting. The last time these two teams played, the Mountaineers had just played Kansas and Baylor, losing both, and then traveled to Lubbock and lost to Texas Tech. They’ve proceeded to lose to Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Baylor since then. Without Sherman, who is the best shooter and the highest usage player, they may rely heavily on McNeil to take a ton of shots and just move everyone up. I had to guess as to how the starting lineup would end up. Bridges will probably get more shots. Osabuohien, Paulicap, and Carrigan are all incredible rebounders and do not know why Osabuohien and Paulicap don’t get more playing time. WVU lacks high-end guards so that could be an issue.

3. How They Match Up. For the year, Williams, Obanor, McCullar, Warren, Shannon, Arms, Santos-Silva, Wilson, Batcho, Allen, and Nadolny are all in the positive in box score plus/minus. That’s pretty amazing. I talk all the time about other players being good or not-good shooters and the best 3-point shooter for Texas Tech is Williams, making 48%, while Obanor has been okay, 34% and McCullar is 32%. Not surprisingly, Texas Tech has a ton of players shooting above 50% from inside the arc, it’s sort of ridiculous. The one item I want to mention overall is that Texas Tech is 1-4 away from home, but are 5-0 against the spread their last 5 games.

4. lagniappe | something given as a bonus or extra gift.

5. Official Site. The official site has their preview right here:

No. 14 Texas Tech will look to sweep the season series against West Virginia when it travels to Morgantown to play the Mountaineers at 1 p.m. (CST) on Saturday at the WVU Coliseum where the program is only 1-8 at all-time.

The Red Raiders (17-5, 6-3 Big 12) are coming off a 77-64 home win over No. 23 Texas on Tuesday night, while the Mountaineers (13-8, 2-6 Big 12) took an 81-77 loss at Baylor on Monday to extend a six-game losing streak. Tech won the first matchup over WVU with a 78-65 win on January 22 in Lubbock where Terrence Shannon, Jr. scored a season-high 23 points while Kevin Obanor had 18 and Bryson Williams added 13. McCullar led the Red Raiders in scoring for the fifth time this season by going off for 19 points in the win over UT with an impressive 12-for-15 result from the free-throw line.

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