Game Info
Date: Wednesday, November 22nd
Time: 5:30 pm
Good Guys: Texas Tech Red Raiders (4-0, 0-0)
Bad Guys: Wofford Terriers (3-2, 0-0)
Location: United Supermarkets Arena | Lubbock, Texas
TV/Stream: FSSW+ (FOX Sports Go)
Radio/Stream: 97.3 FM/104.3 FM/950 AM
Lineups
| THE STARTERS | Pts / Reb | |
|---|---|---|
| POINT GUARD | Keenan Evans (6-3/190) | 19.5 / 2.0* |
| SHOOTING GUARD | Niem Stevenson (6-6/205) | 7.0 / 3.8 |
| SMALL FORWARD | Justin Gray (6-6/210) | 3.8 / 2.0 |
| POWER FORWARD | Zach Smith (6-8/220) | 6.5 / 5.8 |
| CENTER | Tommy Hamilton IV (6-11/250) | 7.3 / 2.8 |
| THE BENCH | Pts / Reb | |
| SIXTH MAN | Zhaire Smith (6-5/195) | 9.3 / 5.0 |
| SEVENTH MAN | Jarrett Culver (6-5/190) | 6.8 / 3.0 |
| EIGHTH MAN | Brandone Francis (6-5/205) | 6.0 / 4.0 |
| NINTH MAN | Davide Moretti (6-3/165) | 5.8 / 1.3* |
| TENTH MAN | Norense Odiase (6-9/245) | 5.5 / 3.3 |
| ELEVENTH MAN | Josh Webster (6-4/175) | 2.0 / 1.3* |
| TWELFTH MAN | Malik Ondigo (6-10/210) | 0.7 / 0.3 |
| THIRTEENTH MAN | Hyron Edwards (6-0/170) | N/A |
| THE STARTERS | Pts / Reb | |
| POINT GUARD | Storm Murphy (5-11/180) | 4.6 / 5.2* |
| SHOOTING GUARD | Nathan Hoover (6-4/180) | 11.0 / 2.8* |
| SMALL FORWARD | Fletcher Magee (6-4/193) | 24.0 / 1.8 |
| POWER FORWARD | Cameron Jackson (6-8/245) | 13.8 / 6.4 |
| CENTER | Matthew Pegram (6-11/250) | 12.2 / 4.4 |
| THE BENCH | Pts / Reb | |
| SIXTH MAN | Keve Aluma (6-9/225) | 2.8 / 4.4 |
| SEVENTH MAN | Donovan Theme-Love (6-1/185) | 2.6 / 1.8* |
| EIGHTH MAN | Dishon Lowery (6-7/240) | 2.4 / 1.4 |
| NINTH MAN | Tray Hollowell (6-2/185) | 4.6 / 0.8 |
* Assists.
Starting 5
1. KenPom has Wofford as the 202nd best team in the nation, 129th in AdjO and 281st in AdjD. Texas Tech has moved up to 17th in the nation overall after whipping Northwestern, 34th in AdjO and 11th in AdjD.
2. Magee, Jackson and Pegram all shoot at a really high percentage. There’s no doubt about that. Magee shoots at a 57% clip, while Jackson shoots at a 67% rate and Pegram makes 50% of his buckets. That’s great and all, but the problem is that Wofford is terrible defensively. So, while they can shoot very well, they are apparently not really good at stopping opposing offenses. This should be a decent test for Texas Tech. Wofford lost both their games to Power Five opponents, South Carolina by 21 and Cal by 14. Texas Tech is currently favored by 23.5 points so that’s where Vegas has the Red Raiders.
3. The three-guard lineup is something that Texas Tech will see quite a bit of in Big 12 play and I don’t know that they’ll see a scorer like Magee. He’s a total volume shooter, making 10 of 16 against Cal and only making 7 of 17 against South Carolina. This should be a fun defensive match-up for Beard, who will have the option of putting a handful of players on Magee, probably starting with Gray, but he’ll have Francis, Zhaire Smith and Jarrett Culver along with Stevenson at his disposal to run at Magee. Texas Tech has 6’5″ or so players that can come at you in waves.
4. The Northwestern game is the first game that I’ve been able to watch and it’s difficult to not come away from that game completely impressed. I think that Francis has the look of a guy that would like to put up 20 shots a game. He’s got a much smoother release than what I thought and he’s a legitimate outside threat. The athleticism of this team is really off the charts, and to think that a guy like Ondigo probably won’t realize his athletic ability for another year. He looks really raw, but 6’10” guys with his athleticism don’t come around too often. He’s still thinking through the game, while Zhaire and Jarrett are just playing. Culver does tend to foul a bit more than I’d like and I think that will be something that he’ll have to overcome this year and will limit his minutes. And big Norense looks like an Adonis, truly looks like a different guy and he’s now got some strength behind that big body.
5. The official site has your official preview of the game, including head coach Chris Beard discussing the energy of his team:
“We want to be a positive team, have great enthusiasm, be an unselfish team and have a bench with some energy,” Texas Tech head coach Chris Beard said. It’s part of our identity. I’d like to think our guys have that energy on a daily basis. I think the challenge is that we all know adversity is coming this season. It’s not a matter of ‘if’ but a matter of ‘when’. I have challenged the guys to keep that same type of energy during times of struggle not just in positive times. We have some key guys too. It’s not just the players, but John Reilly our strength coach is an energetic guy on the bench as well as Chris Williams our athletic trainer.”
A-J Media’s Carlos Silva, Jr. previews the game as well, so you can check that out.