Date: Tuesday, February 7th
Time: 8:00 pm
Good Guys: Texas Tech Red Raiders (16-7, 4-6)
Bad Guys: TCU Horned Frogs (16-7, 5-5)
Location: Ed and Rae Schollmaier Arena | Ft. Worth, Texas
TV/Stream: ESPNews (WatchESPN App)
Radio/Stream: 97.3 FM/104.3 FM/950 AM
| THE STARTERS | Pts / Reb | |
|---|---|---|
| POINT GUARD | Keenan Evans (6-3/180) | 14.2 / 3.1* |
| SHOOTING GUARD | Niem Stevenson (6-6/205) | 7.0 / 3.0 |
| SMALL FORWARD | Justin Gray (6-6/210) | 8.8 / 5.5 |
| POWER FORWARD | Zach Smith (6-8/220) | 13.1 / 7.7 |
| CENTER | Anthony Livingston (6-9/260) | 11.3 / 3.7 |
| THE BENCH | Pts / Reb | |
| SIXTH MAN | Aaron Ross (6-8/225) | 10.7 / 3.0 |
| SEVENTH MAN | Devon Thomas (6-0/170) | 5.3 / 3.3* |
| EIGHTH MAN | Shadell Millinghaus (6-2/195) | 4.9 / 2.4 |
| NINTH MAN | Matthew Temple (6-10/240) | 2.2 / 1.4 |
| THE STARTERS | Pts / Reb | |
| POINT GUARD | Alex Robinson (6-1/180) | 11.6 / 5.6* |
| SHOOTING GUARD | Jaylen Fisher (6-2/195) | 9.1 / 4.4* |
| SMALL FORWARD | Kenrich Williams (6-7/210) | 10.3 / 9.3 |
| POWER FORWARD | JD Miller (6-8/235) | 7.0 / 3.3 |
| CENTER | Vladimir Brodziansky (6-11/220) | 14.3 / 5.9 |
| THE BENCH | Pts / Reb | |
| SIXTH MAN | Desmond Bane (6-5/215) | 7.8 / 3.0 |
| SEVENTH MAN | Brandon Parrish (6-6/210) | 5.8 / 3.0 |
| EIGHTH MAN | Karviar Shepherd (6-11/230) | 5.7 / 3.0 |
| NINTH MAN | Chris Washburn (6-8/240) | 2.1 / 1.6 |
* Assists.
1. KenPom has TCU as the #32 team in the nation, 47th in AdjO and 43rd in AdjD. Texas Tech is 42nd overall, 38th in AdjO and 67th in AdjD. TCU really is good, they’re legitimate and for my money, they are essentially Texas Tech from last year, which is over-achieving and they are very good.
2. Some interesting numbers, TCU is just 7-7 after a win, they are just 6-7 as a favorite and 6-7 as a home team. TCU is a better scoring team, a better rebounding team, and offensively and defensively. I do really enjoy watching Brodziansky play, to see a true post-player like that work his magic in the post is really fun in this game that’s so dominated by guards. He shoots the ball so well, 62% and if the ball goes into him in the post, he’s shooting it. May be something to consider as Texas Tech figures out how to play him and TCU.
3. As you may recall, Texas Tech shot 31 free throws to just 9 for TCU the last time these two teams met. You should not expect that preferential treatment in Ft. Worth. Texas Tech also shot 43% from the floor and that’s another thing that you probably will not expect to replicate itself in Ft. Worth. Texas Tech will need to be on point on the boards and terrific defensively.
4. I do think that it was necessary to make a change to the starting lineup. I mentioned after the Oklahoma game that Stevenson was inserted into the starting five and I think one of the problems has been that there just aren’t enough quality rebounders on the team with Thomas on the floor. I’d also add that Livingston isn’t exactly a strong rebounder and with Stevenson adds length a bigger body to the starting five. I like this move and I ope that defensively it helps a bit too. I think it will.
5. Head coach Chris Beard on the importance of winning on the road:
“To me, you’re not even a part of the fight until you win on the road in the conference race,” Texas Tech head coach Chris Beard said. “We’ve yet to do that. I think you’ve got to put wins back-to-back. To this point, we’re an inconsistent team. That’s who we are. We’ve won one, lost one, won one, lost one, so one of many goals, objectives that we have is to get to where we can win multiple games in a row.”
Coach Beard addresses the media before heading to Fort Worth to face TCU on Tuesday. #WreckEm #4to1 pic.twitter.com/RQKej43Gas
— TexasTech Basketball (@TexasTechMBB) February 6, 2017