Game Info
Good Guys: Texas Tech Red Raiders (8-3, 0-0)
Bad Guys: Duke Blue Devils (11-0, 0-0)
When to Watch: Saturday, December 20th @ 7:00 pm
Where to Watch: Madison Square Garden | New York, New York
How to Watch: ESPN
How to Listen: 97.3 FM | Affiliates | Varsity Network
The Line: Duke -8.5
Advanced Stats
| TEXAS TECH | STAT | DUKE |
|---|---|---|
Lineups
| THE STARTERS | Pts / Reb | |
|---|---|---|
| POINT GUARD | Christian Anderson (6-3/178) | 19.3 / 7.5* |
| SHOOTING GUARD | Donovan Atwell (6-5/200) | 11.3 / 3.0 |
| SMALL FORWARD | Tyree Bryan (6-5/215) | 5.6 / 3.8 |
| POWER FORWARD | LeJuan Watts (6-6/225) | 14.0 / 5.9 |
| CENTER | JT Toppin (6-9/230) | 21.9 / 10.6 |
| THE BENCH | Pts / Reb | |
| SIXTH MAN | Jaylen Petty (6-1/168) | 7.4 / 3.2 |
| SEVENTH MAN | Leon Horner (6-4/215) | 3.0 / 2.4 |
| EIGHTH MAN | Marial Akuentok (6-11/240) | 2.3 / 3.0 |
| NINTH MAN | Nolan Groves (6-5/205) | 2.3 / 2.0 |
| TENTH MAN | Luke Bamgboye (6-11/220) | 5.0 / 3.0 |
| ELEVENTH MAN | Josiah Moseley (6-8/225) | – / – |
| TWELFTH MAN | Jazz Henderson (5-11/180) | 1.0 / 1.5 |
| THIRTEENTH MAN | LaTrell Hoover (7-0/230) | – / – |
| FOURTEENTH MAN | Jack Francis (6-3/180) | 0.0 / 1.0 |
| THE STARTERS | Pts / Reb | |
| POINT GUARD | Caleb Foster (6-5/205) | 9.1 / 2.8* |
| SHOOTING GUARD | Isaiah Evans (6-6/180) | 12.5 / 3.2 |
| SMALL FORWARD | Nikolas Khamenia (6-8/215) | 6.0 / 4.3 |
| POWER FORWARD | Cameron Boozer (6-9/250) | 23.3 / 10.2 |
| CENTER | Patrick Ngongba II (6-11/250) | 11.7 / 6.7 |
| THE BENCH | Pts / Reb | |
| SIXTH MAN | Cayden Boozer (6-4/205) | 5.9 / 3.3* |
| SEVENTH MAN | Darren Harris (6-5/195) | 5.5 / 1.1 |
| EIGHTH MAN | Maliq Brown (6-9/225) | 6.0 / 4.1 |
| NINTH MAN | Dame Sarr (6-8/190) | 6.4 / 3.8 |
| TENTH MAN | – (-/-) | – / – |
* Assists.
Starting 5
1. Stats. I didn’t think that Northern Colorado was a good 3-point shooting team and that ended up not being entirely accurate. Well, this Duke team has a few offensive flaws, they are 96th in turnover percentage (nearly 16% of plays) and 111th in 3-point shooting, as well as just 187th in free throw shooting percentage. I don’t think you necessarily want to put them on the line, but that is a weakness. The Dukies are a great 2-point shooting team (much like Northern Colorado), 4th in the nation, and are 30th in the nation in offensive rebounding. Defensively, they are a great defensive team, 10th in opponent 3-point shooting and 2nd in opponent 2-point shooting. They are also 35th in the nation in blocked shots and are 10th in opponent free throw rate. Texas Tech is going to need to be creative offensively.
2. Scouting. For the record, Duke beat Texas by 15 in the 1st game of the year, Kansas by 12, Arkansas by 9, Florida by 1, and Michigan State by 6. They’ve played some good teams and closed out. Cameron Boozer (wonder if he was named after Cameron Indoor Stadium) is so good and will be a heck of a watch against either Toppin or Watts. It’s a shame that Texas Tech doesn’t have a decent big so we get a full game of Toppin and Boozer, but this is where we are at. Boozer is high usage, terrific rebounder, nearly the best passer (2nd to his brother) and a terrific shooter inside the arc, 65%. Maybe the best thing that Texas Tech could do would be to just let Boozer shoot from the outside, he’s making just 35% (16 of 46). Ngongba is a big rebounder and shot blocker. Evans, Foster and Harris will shoot from outside, but Foster and Harris are decent. Cayden Boozer is a pretty darned good passer and decent shooter from inside the arc.
3. How They Match Up. T-Rank thinks that Duke wins by 8 and like a lot of you, I’m a bit nervous about a big team like Duke and Texas Tech not having a ton of frontcourt depth. It was a problem against Illinois and Purdue and Texas Tech didn’t have a ton of answers. It will also be interesting to see how Anderson will compete against some bigger guards. He’s done well pretty much every game, but he was pretty quiet against Norther Colorado. Granted, Watts was shining and that’s what good teammates do, let other shine. Texas Tech will need more from Atwell and Bryan, and not just 3-point shots. .
Listening to the presser, McCasland is imploring his team to the media and I am sure in the room as well that the ownership of the team and changing personnel to give other guys a try with limited time together and practice habits. Said just wasn’t going to tolerate not playing defense and just needing to play with an edge. McCasland specifically talked about LeJuan Watts and how much he’s working on defense and how much he has improved on offense as a result of the defensive work and he said that’s what’s missing with a few of the players on the team.
4. lagniappe | something given as a bonus or extra gift.
5. Official Site. The official site has their preview right here:
No. 19 Texas Tech is set to travel from West Texas to Midtown Manhattan for a marquee Madison Square Garden matchup against No. 3 Duke at 7 p.m. (CST) on Saturday in New York City. The top 20 game on ESPN will feature the Red Raiders (8-3) who are looking for their first ranked win of the season while the Blue Devils (11-0) have knocked off four ranked opponents and come into the game as one of only seven teams without a loss.
“It’s a great time to be playing college basketball and we’re excited to be going to Madison Square Garden to face a tremendous Duke team,” Texas Tech coach Grant McCasland said. “Coach Scheyer has done awesome work with his group. He’s got a young group and experience. He’s blended it well. They have one of the best players in the country and the way they compete is something I have a lot of respect for. We’re looking forward to a great opportunity to play a great team.”