Game Info
Good Guys: Texas Tech Red Raiders (12-4, 2-1)
Bad Guys: Utah Utes (8-8, 0-3)
When to Watch: Wednesday, January 14th @ 8:00 pm
Where to Watch: United Supermarkets Arena | Lubbock, Texas
How to Watch: Peacock
How to Listen: 97.3 FM | Affiliates | Varsity Network
The Line: Texas Tech -17.5
Advanced Stats
| TEXAS TECH | STAT | UTAH |
|---|---|---|
Lineups
| THE STARTERS | Pts / Reb | |
|---|---|---|
| POINT GUARD | Christian Anderson (6-3/178) | 19.3 / 7.2* |
| SHOOTING GUARD | Jaylen Petty (6-1/168) | 9.3 / 3.9 |
| SMALL FORWARD | Donovan Atwell (6-5/200) | 11.8 / 3.0 |
| POWER FORWARD | LeJuan Watts (6-6/225) | 13.3 / 6.3 |
| CENTER | JT Toppin (6-9/230) | 20.6 / 11.0 |
| THE BENCH | Pts / Reb | |
| SIXTH MAN | Leon Horner (6-4/215) | 3.3 / 2.8 |
| SEVENTH MAN | Tyree Bryan (6-5/215) | 5.1 / 3.2 |
| EIGHTH MAN | Nolan Groves (6-5/205) | 1.3 / 1.5 |
| NINTH MAN | Jazz Henderson (5-11/180) | 0.4 / 0.6 |
| TENTH MAN | Luke Bamgboye (6-11/220) | 5.6 / 3.4 |
| ELEVENTH MAN | Josiah Moseley (6-8/225) | – / – |
| TWELFTH MAN | Marial Akuentok (6-11/240) | 2.0 / 2.8 |
| THIRTEENTH MAN | LaTrell Hoover (7-0/230) | – / – |
| FOURTEENTH MAN | Jack Francis (6-3/180) | 0.0 / 1.0 |
| THE STARTERS | Pts / Reb | |
| POINT GUARD | Terrence Brown (6-3/175) | 21.6 / 4.1* |
| SHOOTING GUARD | Don McHenry (6-2/170) | 18.6 / 3.4 |
| SMALL FORWARD | Seydou Traore (6-6/220) | 9.0 / 3.3 |
| POWER FORWARD | Keanu Dawes (6-9/225) | 12.3 / 8.8 |
| CENTER | James Okonkwo (6-8/245) | 2.8 / 5.7 |
| THE BENCH | Pts / Reb | |
| SIXTH MAN | Kendyl Sanders (6-8/230) | 5.4 / 3.8 |
| SEVENTH MAN | Obomate Abbey (6-0/195) | 2.9 / 2.4* |
| EIGHTH MAN | Josh Hayes (6-9/210) | 3.1 / 2.3 |
| NINTH MAN | Lucas Langarita (6-5/202) | 3.0 / 0.0 |
| TENTH MAN | – (-/-) | – / – |
* Assists.
Starting 5
1. Stats. Utah is okay offensively, but they aren’t really good at anything offensively. Sort of just sit in the 100’s of things. They are 97th in turnover percentage, 112th in 3-point shooting, 120th in 2-point shooting, and 112th in free throw makes. They start to dip a bit in some other metrics, 214th in offensive rebounding and 186th in free throw rate, while they are a team that gets their shot blocked quite a bit, 287th. Defensively, things are a bit worse, the are 311th in forcing opponent turnovers, 247th in opponent offensive rebounding, 243rd in opponent 2-point shooting, and 154th in opponent 3-point shooting. That’s just sort of not good.
2. Scouting. I think Brown is a pretty good point guard, but he’s not shooting particularly well, 29% in 3-point shooting, but he has high assist and low-turnover rates along with being a high steal defender. McHenry is a better shooter and he’s got some volume, already 100+ 3-point shots and he makes 41%. Dawes is the best defensive rebounder, while Okonkwo is the best offensive rebounder on the team.
3. How They Match Up. Utah has had a rough start to the Big 12, right before the conference play started they lost to Washington by 9, then Arizona by a decent amount, by 12 to Colorado, and by 5 to BYU at home. I’ll just say it will be nice to have Texas Tech at home with students back. Right now, Texas Tech is shooting a ton of 3’s, nearly 46% of shots, with just 27% close. This is an all-or-nothing offense and maybe it would be good to let Toppin and Watts and anyone else cook inside a bit.
4. lagniappe | something given as a bonus or extra gift.
Lady Raider Basketball: No. 17 Lady Raiders remain undefeated
Senior Bailey Maupin recorded a 19-point performance as the No. 17 Texas Tech Lady Raiders earned a 71-59 win over the Houston Cougars on Tuesday night at the United Supermarkets Arena. Maupin totaled 19 points for her team-leading 11th straight double-figure scoring game and was a perfect 6-for-6 at the free throw line to lead Texas Tech (19-0, 6-0 Big 12) over Houston (6-11, 0-6 Big 12). Maupin added five rebounds, three steals and a team-best four assists on the night.
Junior Jalynn Bristow tallied 14 points with a team-best two 3-pointers. She also led the way in rebounds (7), steals (5) and blocks (2). Denae Fritz posted back-to-back double-digit scoring games with 10 points on 80.0 percent shooting from the field (4-for-5). Fritz totaled six boards and three steals, the eighth time with three or more takeaways in a game.
Lubbock Avalanche-Journal’s Nathan Giese: Grant McCasland calls Donovan Atwell Texas Tech basketball’s ‘most consistent’ player
“If you could just say who’s the most consistent on our team, it’s Donovan Atwell,” McCasland said. “He is not up and down. He shows up every day. He works extremely hard.”
But McCasland has seen plenty more from Atwell, especially as of late. While his 41.7% shooting from deep and 11.8 points per game average are essential to Texas Tech’s operation, Atwell has played at least 33 minutes each of the last six games and 10 times in Tech’s first 16 contests.
Red Raider Sports’ Ben Golan: Tulsa QB Kirk Francis commits to Texas Tech
5. Official Site. The official site has their preview right here:
A two-game homestand is set for No. 15 Texas Tech this week with a midweek matchup against Utah at 8 p.m. on Wednesday and a nationally-ranked showdown against No. 11 BYU at 7 p.m. on Saturday at United Supermarkets Arena. The Red Raiders (12-4, 2-1 Big 12) are currently 8-0 on their home court this season while the Utes (8-8, 0-3 Big 12) are 0-3 on the road and are looking to snap a four-game losing streak. The Cougars take a 12-game winning streak into a home game against TCU on Wednesday before traveling to Lubbock this weekend.
“Utah has got some really dynamic pieces at the guard spots,” Texas Tech coach Grant McCasland said. “I mean, anytime you have guys averaging close to 20 and over 20 points a game at the guard spots that just goes to show you they can take a game over. You can give them a ball and some space. We’ve got to be on edge to play against them. I mean, we watched, obviously, the Utah-Colorado game going into it and they were right there winning that game on the road also. They’ve got great size and they’ve got good pieces at the rim. They’re growing, like every team has. They’ve got some good non-conference wins, too. There just has to be an edge in every game you play. And that’s the Big 12. If you look at the scoreboard, or if you look at another team’s jersey name and try to decide how you’re going to compete, then you’ve lost. I think we’re in the right place in how we want to get better and the edge that you have to play the game with.”