Game Info
Good Guys: Texas Tech Red Raiders (9-3, 0-1)
Bad Guys: Utah Utes (8-4, 0-1)
When to Watch: Saturday, January 4th @ 6:00 pm
Where to Watch: Jon M Huntsman Center | Salt Lake City, Utah
How to Watch: ESPN+
How to Listen: 97.3 FM | Affiliates | Varsity Network
The Line: Texas Tech -2.5
Advanced Stats
| TEXAS TECH | STAT | UTAH |
|---|---|---|
Lineups
| THE STARTERS | Pts / Reb | |
|---|---|---|
| POINT GUARD | Elijah Hawkins (5-11/160) | 7.3 / 5.2* |
| SHOOTING GUARD | Chance McMillian (6-3/190) | 16.0 / 3.8 |
| SMALL FORWARD | Kerwin Walton (6-5/210) | 5.4 / 1.6 |
| POWER FORWARD | Darrion Williams (6-6/225) | 16.0 / 5.7 |
| CENTER | JT Toppin (6-9/225) | 19.5 / 10.9 |
| THE BENCH | Pts / Reb | |
| SIXTH MAN | Kevin Overton (6-5/200) | 11.2 / 4.0 |
| SEVENTH MAN | Christian Anderson (6-2/165) | 8.3 / 2.8* |
| EIGHTH MAN | Federiko Federiko (6-11/215) | 7.8 / 4.8 |
| NINTH MAN | Eemeli Yalaho (6-8/240) | 4.4 / 2.6 |
| TENTH MAN | Leon Horner (6-4/215) | 0.3 / 0.7 |
| ELEVENTH MAN | Jack Francis (6-3/185) | 0.4 / 0.4 |
| TWELFTH MAN | Corbin Green (6-5/230) | 0.0 / 0.6 |
| THIRTEENTH MAN | Jazz Henderson (5-11/175) | – / – |
| THE STARTERS | Pts / Reb | |
| POINT GUARD | Miro Little (6-3/194) | 7.2 / 5.0* |
| SHOOTING GUARD | Mason Madsen (6-4/193) | 12.3 / 3.3 |
| SMALL FORWARD | Gabe Madsen (6-6/202) | 17.5 / 2.3 |
| POWER FORWARD | Ezra Ausar (6-8/242) | 10.0 / 4.6 |
| CENTER | Lawson Lovering (7-1/233) | 12.1 / 5.7 |
| THE BENCH | Pts / Reb | |
| SIXTH MAN | Hunter Erickson (6-3/198) | 5.7 / 2.1* |
| SEVENTH MAN | Mike Sharavjamts (6-9/190) | 7.5 / 3.7 |
| EIGHTH MAN | Caleb Lohner (6-7/250) | 6.0 / 5.0 |
| NINTH MAN | Jake Wahlin (6-10/211) | 5.1 / 4.2 |
| TENTH MAN | Zach Keller (6-10/234) | 2.9 / 1.4 |
| ELEVENTH MAN | Keanu Dawes (6-9/218) | 7.4 / 5.5 |
* Assists.
Starting 5
1. Stats. Utah is a decently good shooting team, 61st in 2-point shooting and 54th in 3-point shooting. The Utes are also 73rd in turnover percentage and 72nd in offensive rebounding, so they are doing the little things to create good offense. Their biggest issues are making free throws, 341st in the nation and they tend to get shots blocked, 344th in the nation. Defensively, they are better on that side of the court, they are 18th in the nation in 2-point shooting defense, but 109th in 3-point shooting defense. They do a decent job of limiting offensive boards, 57th, and are fine on the turnover side of things, 123rd, and don’t put teams on the line a ton, 131st.
2. Scouting. Lovering is maybe the best player overall, but doesn’t get a ton of minutes. He’s a great shooter, 70% from the field, but can’t make free throws, 42%. He’s a terrific shot-blocker, offensive rebounder and doesn’t turn the ball over for a big man. Gabe Madsen is the high usage player, he’s a good shooter and takes a ton of 3’s, 56% from inside the arc and 39% from outside. Mason Madsen also shoots a ton of 3’s as well and makes 45%. The other shooter to key on is Erickson who makes 45% of his 3-point shots. Dawes is the defensive rebounder, while Ausar will get involved in offensive boards.
3. How They Match Up. Texas Tech is a slight favorite according to the advanced stats. Texas Tech’s advanced stats have dropped significantly on the defensive end after the UCF game. the other thing that I noted was that Texas Tech doesn’t get to the line a ton, which means they are relying solely on jump-shots to create offense. Texas Tech is 298th in free throw rate and its the one thing they don’t do well on offense. That may need to change.
4. lagniappe | something given as a bonus or extra gift.
SLC bound 📍 pic.twitter.com/ikSEG2pLUa
— Texas Tech Basketball (@TexasTechMBB) January 3, 2025
5. Official Site. The official site has their preview right here:
Texas Tech is set to play its first true road games of the season when it takes on Utah at 6 p.m. (CST) on Saturday in Salt Lake City before playing BYU at 8 p.m. (CST) on Tuesday in Provo, Utah. Both Big 12 conference games will be streamed on ESPN+.
“The first thing is we have to do is have a really good plan to win the first game at Utah,” Texas Tech coach Grant McCasland said. “You can go up there with a lot of really big plans and put yourself in a bind if you’re not prepared. We have to put all our energy into winning the game against Utah to start. They have some of the best shooters in college basketball. They’re a really good scoring team, and when they’re making their 3s, they’re really tough to play against. Their movement and action is really good and they’re tough defensively. We’ve got to be on edge guarding the 3-point line to win the basketball game.”