Date: Monday, January 18th
Time: 6:00 pm
Good Guys: Texas Tech Red Raiders (11-5, 1-4)
Bad Guys: TCU Horned Frogs (9-8, 1-4)
Location: Schollmaier Arena | Fort Worth, Texas
TV/Stream: ESPNU
Radio/Stream: 93.7 FM/104.3 FM/950 AM
| THE STARTERS | Pts / Reb | |
|---|---|---|
| POINT GUARD | Kennan Evans (6-3/180) | 7.7 / 2.7* |
| SHOOTING GUARD | Devaugntah Williams (6-4/205) | 13.8 / 3.6 |
| SMALL FORWARD | Toddrick Gotcher (6-4/205) | 11.3 / 4.6 |
| POWER FORWARD | Zach Smith (6-8/215) | 9.6 / 6.4 |
| CENTER | Norense Odiase (6-9/260) | 9.1 / 4.5 |
| THE BENCH | Pts / Reb | |
| SIXTH MAN | Aaron Ross (6-8/225) | 7.6 / 4.0 |
| SEVENTH MAN | Justin Gray (6-6/210) | 8.2 / 3.4 |
| EIGHTH MAN | Devon Thomas (6-0/170) | 3.1 / 1.4* |
| THE STARTERS | Pts / Reb | |
| POINT GUARD | Chauncey Collins (6-0/180) | 10.0 / 2.1* |
| SHOOTING GUARD | Michael Williams (6-2/195) | 5.4 / 2.2 |
| SMALL FORWARD | Brandon Parrish (6-6/210) | 8.5 / 3.5 |
| POWER FORWARD | Chris Washburn (6-8/240) | 7.2 / 4.2 |
| CENTER | Kaviar Shepherd (6-10/230) | 8.8 / 6.2 |
| THE BENCH | Pts / Reb | |
| SIXTH MAN | Vladimir Brodziansky (6-10/215) | 11.5 / 5.4 |
| SEVENTH MAN | JD Miller (6-8/235) | 5.8 / 4.0 |
* Assists.
1. KenPom (these numbers are as of Sunday morning) has TCU ranked 139th in the nation, 239th in adjusted offense and 56th in adjusted defense. Texas Tech falls to 53rd overall, after being as high as 39th or so at one point, and currently sits at 115th in the country in adjusted offense and 76th in adjusted defense.
2. Both Texas Tech and TCU have lone conference wins over Texas, which is an odd thing to type, while both teams are really in need of a conference win. TCU has lost to Oklahoma State, in Stillwater, West Virginia at home, Baylor on the road and most recently, on the road against Kansas where they played the Jayhawks really close, losing 70-63.
3. TCU has been a bit hampered as they have been without Malique Trent, who was suspended for the past two games and was the Horned Frogs leading scorer. I don’t know if he’ll play, but he would start over Williams at shooting guard and averages nearly 12 points a game and 3 assists. He’s a game changer for TCU. Without Trent, Kansas State has to rely on Collins and they could use a bit more production from Shepherd, Parrish or Washburn, but maybe this is just who they are. I think Smith will have his toughest task against TCU’s 6th man, Brodziansky, who’s an incredibly efficient scorer.
4. Texas Tech needs a win in a bad way and if they want any hope of pulling themselves out of the funk that they are in, it starts with a road game win against a really scrappy TCU team. A win at TCU would help out a ton because then Texas Tech hosts West Virginia who is ranked 11th in the nation. In other words, it doesn’t get any easier. Texas Tech head coach Tubby Smith is confident that the team will respond in the right way:
“This team has solid people on it,” Texas Tech head coach Tubby Smith said. “They know we’re playing some pretty good teams. They’re doing the things we ask them to do. There are times when you wonder about the turnovers, but otherwise they’re working extremely hard. I don’t think they’ll get down. I think they’ll respond the right way for when we got to Fort Worth to play a tough TCU team.”
5. Justin Gray hardly played on Saturday against Baylor and considering he has been the teams’ best player as of late, this was really tough. He was apparently in a boot perhaps or was icing his knee this past week. I’m not sure what the status of his injury is, but he’s incredibly important to the success of this team. Thankfully, Devaugntah Williams snapped out of his funk a bit, scoring 16 against Baylor. Texas Tech really has to get back on track shooting the ball, especially from deep, where both Toddrick Gotcher and Keenan Evans were 0-5 from the three-point line. The Red Raiders were bailed out a bit by Aaron Ross hitting thow huge three-point shots late, but Texas Tech has to have those guards make an impact. I’d also add that Norense Odiase had a quiet game, played only 19 minutes, grabbing only 1 rebound, had 3 assists, but 4 turnovers. He’s got to be a impact player.