Game Info

Date: Tuesday, February 13th
Time: 6:00 pm
Good Guys: Texas Tech Red Raiders (21-4, 9-3)
Bad Guys: Oklahoma Sooners (16-8, 6-6)
Location: United Supermarkets Arena | Lubbock, Texas
TV/Stream: ESPN
Radio/Stream: 97.3 FM/104.3 FM/950 AM

Lineups

* Assists.

Starting 5

1. KenPom. KenPom Oklahoma is the 31st best team in the nation, 17th in AdjO and 86th in AdjD, while Texas Tech is 7th overall, 60th in AdjO and 3rd in AdjD.

2. Stats. Via RealGM, the Sooners hold slight statistical advantages over Texas Tech in eFG% shooting percentage, 55% to 53%. The Red Raiders hold slight leads over Oklahoma in offensive rebounding percentage, 32% to 29%, and free throw rate, 28% to 25%. Both teams turn the ball over at a rate of 15%.

3. Scouting. The Sooners come in losing 3 in a row, and truthfully, it was nearly 5 in a row had they not pulled out a 2 point in against Baylor in Norman. They hit their high point with a 5 point win against Kansas in Norman, but since losing to Alabama in the SEC / Big 12 Challenge, the Sooners have somewhat been a close game funk. A 5 point loss to Texas in Austin, a 2 point loss at home to west Virginia and then Oklahoma lost by 8 in Hilton against Iowa State. The biggest difference for the Sooners is that they’re a different team on the road and so is Young, who was not the leading scorer against Alabama (only 6 of 17), then scored 44 at home against Baylor(was 11 of 20), then only scored 19 in Austin (7 of 22), scored 32 at home against West Virginia (10 of 20), and then only had 22 against Iowa State on the road (7 of 21). The Sooners are only 3-7 on the road this year and that’s been the problem for just about every Big 12 team. Winning on the road is tough. The last game around, Texas Tech had problems with OU’s athleticism and length, but I also think that was about the time that Zach had gone down and the team was really figuring out how to play against really athletic teams without Zach. Thus far, Texas Tech has adjusted pretty well to that length and athleticism, especially at home.

4. Reading Material.

• A-J Media’s Carlos Silva, Jr. – Rayford, Trae Young return to the place where basketball dreams began in Lubbock:
  

  Rayford Young still has a video cassette and DVD copy of the moment.

  On Feb. 13, 1999, Young scored 41 points — including 32 in the final nine minutes — as Texas Tech defeated then No. 24-ranked Kansas in Lubbock.

  But in the background, if you look closely, another small piece to Young’s legacy was also in attendance among the throng of Red Raiders fans inside Lubbock Municipal Coliseum.

  “It’s a memorable game for me because you can see my girlfriend, now wife, Candice, holding Trae in her arms,” Rayford Young said of his son, Trae, a current Oklahoma freshman guard who leads the country in scoring average and assists. “He was about six to eight months old at that time and had already been around basketball.”

• Amarillo Globe-News’ Lance Lahnert – Emotional dad: Pampa native Rayford Young set to watch son play against Red Raiders:
  

  None even close like tonight.

  “This one I don’t have the words for,” said Young, who despite standing 5-foot-11 was a star guard at Tech averaging 15.4 points per game as a sophomore, 16.1 as a junior and 17.8 as senior. “It’s going to crazy and a little emotional for me. Just because it’s going to be emotional for me because I believe we are the first father-son duo to play in the same Big 12 conference. It’s going to be emotional for me because I had a lot of good memories in that arena.”

  That arena tonight is called the United Supermarkets Arena in Lubbock and at 6 p.m. No. 7-ranked Texas Tech will host No. 23 Oklahoma in a nationally televised game.

• Tulsa World’s Cody Stavenhagen – OU basketball: Rayford Young’s Texas Tech career laid the groundwork for his son’s stellar freshman season:
  

  “It really did change my life when James Dickey walked in my house when I was a 17-year-old senior in Pampa, Texas, and he offered me a scholarship to Texas Tech,” Ray said Monday afternoon.

  When Ray went off to Tech, he was out of small-town Pampa andonto Lubbock, which felt like a big city. He flew on team planes to places like Colorado and Nebraska. He landed in Oklahoma City and drove to Stillwater and Norman for big-time basketball games.

  “Little things that changed my life, and it made me more of a man and made me more mature,” Ray said.

• NewsOK’s Jenni Carlson – Meet the woman who provides perspective and refuge to OU superstar Trae Young:
  

  As most folks worry about the freshman phenom shooting too much or shooting too little or whatever the basketball world is wringing its hands over this week — probably has something to do with road woes as OU prepares to head to Lubbock where league-leading Texas Tech awaits — his mom doesn’t concern herself with any of that. She knows Trae and husband, Rayford, will take care of the basketball stuff. That has always been their thing.

  She focuses on everything else.

5. Official Site. The official site has your official preview and head coach Chris Beard discusses how much he respects the Sooners:

“We have a lot of respect for Oklahoma’s program,” Texas Tech head coach Chris Beard said. “It starts with Coach Kruger, somebody who has won wherever he has ever been. He’s basically built a national level program at Oklahoma. They went to the Final Four a couple of years ago and are right back in the mix. They have a talented roster. Obviously, Trae Young gets a lot of credit which he deserves, but they also have other really good players on their roster. They beat us convincingly in our first game in Norman. There are a lot of things that we need to do better to have a chance to compete in this game tomorrow night. That’s our intention, to play well.”