Game Info

Good Guys: Texas Tech Red Raiders (17-9, 8-5)
Bad Guys: Iowa State Cyclones (11-15, 4-9)
When to Watch: Saturday, February 22nd @ 5:00 p.m.
Where to Watch: Hilton Coliseum | Ames, Iowa
How to Watch: ESPNU | WatchESPN
How to Listen: 97.3 FM | Affiliates | TuneIn App
The Line: Texas Tech -6

Advanced Stats

Lineups

* Assists.

Starting 5

1. Stats. As you probably are aware, Tyrese Haliburton is out for the rest of the year, his last game was maybe the Kansas State game in early February. So some of these stats may not be as accurate based on the team as it sits today. And the best way to think about Haliburton and how important he is to the team, he’s the Cyclones version of Jarrett Culver, sort of does it all, scorer, rebounder, assist, defense, etc. With that being said, Iowa State is very good offensively, mainly a jump shooting team as their free throw rate is one of the worst in the nation, 292nd. Not a particularly great three-point shooting team, 204th in the nation, they are a very good shooting team inside the arc, 84th in the nation, they make their free throws, 78th in the nation, and they don’t get their shots blocked. Defensively, the news isn’t all that great. They are terrific at two things: forcing turnovers (65th in the nation) and free throw rate (45th in the nation). They are a terrible offensive rebounding team, 322nd in the nation and they allow opponents to make 36% of their three-point shots, which is 308th in the nation.

2. Scouting. Bolton is the best player, while Conditt is maybe the best offensive player, along with Lewis. I think those are the three main players to watch, as well as Young is a good rebounder and an okay shot blocker. Conditt is just a better version of Young in just about every respect, so I’m not sure why he’s not starting. Bolton, Lewis, and Jacobson are the best shooters on the team from the outside, Bolton makes 33%, Lewis makes 39%, and Jacobson makes 32% of their three-point shots. That’s not stellar, but I’d guess it is a lot better at home.

3. How They Match Up. Since Haliburton went down, the Cyclones have played three games, a 29-point loss to Oklahoma on the road, a 30-point win against Texas, and then a 20-point loss on the road to Kansas. I’m very interested in what the offense looks like without Haliburton, who is taking shots and who isn’t. In the 20-point win against Texas, it was Nixon, Jacobson, and Young who were all putting up buckets, and the Cyclones were just on fire offensively. And even though they lost by 20 to Kansas, the offense was good, really elite, it was the defense that cost them the game. The statistical models have this as a very close game. In fact, Iowa State is statistically very similar to Oklahoma State, the record is worse than the actual performance. Iowa State is 9-5 against the spread at home and at home in general, the Cylcones are 10-4, while Texas Tech is just 2-5 on the road and 3-4 against the spread on the road.

4. Reading Material. Avalanche-Journal’s Carlos Silva, Jr. – Red Raiders in must-win mode:

At the current juncture, things are a bit different but still the same in that the Red Raiders need to make sure they do limit their losses throughout the rest of the conference schedule — which is why the win over the Wildcats was so important.

“In this league, every team is good. And we knew that,” Moretti said Wednesday. “We did a pretty good job in preparation. … We were locked in the last two days, and I think it showed up on the court.”

Now, the Red Raiders will do it all over again as they take on Iowa State for a 5 p.m. Saturday contest at Hilton Coliseum.

The matchup and site, which was when and where Texas Tech earned a share of the Big 12 Conference regular season title last season, will still hold significance as the Red Raiders (17-9, 8-5) continue to string together wins in an effort to polish their NCAA Tournament résumé.

The Des Moines Register’s Randy Peterson – Peterson: ESPN’s Fraschilla calls Iowa State’s Steve Prohm a victim of his own recruiting success:

“It’s unfortunate Iowa State’s coaching staff this year has been a victim of their own recruiting success,” Fraschilla said. “There were players that were either ready for the NBA, or thought they were ready. Three guys are gone, who could have been playing, including (injured) Tyrese (Haliburton).”

Three of the eight players that have started this season were new to Iowa State — transfers Rasir Bolton and Prentiss Nixon, and freshman Tre Jackson. Freshmen Marcedus Leech and Luke Anderson left before the season.

Talen Horton-Tucker turned pro after his freshman season. Not many saw that coming when he was a top-40 recruit. Lindell Wigginton did it after two seasons. More saw that coming. Beyond that, Marial Shayok, last season’s top scorer, was a second-round draft pick by the 76ers. Nick Weiler-Babb is playing professionally overseas.

That’s 63 percent of the scoring missing from a team that won the most recent Big 12 Conference tournament, before losing against Ohio State in the NCAA Tournament’s opening round.

“You’re going to have a year where you lose guys early, and I’m not just talking about Tyrese and his injury,” Fraschilla said. “What if Lindell returned? He’d be like (former Purdue star) Carsen Edwards this year. Lindell would be one of the leading scorers in college basketball. He chose to try the professional route early, and that’s his prerogative.

Ames Tribune’s Travis Hines – Iowa State men’s basketball: Defense at the forefront with Texas Tech on tap:

“Obviously Beard, that’s his deal,” Prohm said. “Him and (assistant) Mark (Adams). They do a great job defensively of keeping people out of the middle.

“There are certain ways you’ve got to be able to attack Tech, through cutting, through ball movement and then through attacking in transition.”

Texas Tech’s success with the scheme has had teams across the country adopting pieces of it.

“You see trends in college basketball,” senior Michael Jacobson, who started his career at Nebraska before transferring to ISU, said. “I definitely don’t think it was this way when I started out, but now at the end of my career, a lot of teams are ICEing ballscreens and trying to keep you out of the middle of the floor, forcing baseline and things like that.

“Tech is definitely one of those programs that probably had something to do with that.”

5. Official Site. The official site has their preview right here:

Texas Tech begins a two-game road trip having won four of its last five games going into a 5 p.m. matchup against Iowa State on Saturday at the Hilton Coliseum in Ames, Iowa.

The Red Raiders (17-9, 8-5 Big 12) are coming off a 69-62 win over Kansas State at home where they never trailed on Wednesday, while the Cyclones (11-15, 4-9 Big 12) took a 91-71 loss at No. 3 Kansas on Monday in their game this week. In the first matchup this season, TTU earned a 72-52 wire-to-wire win over ISU on Jan. 18 in Lubbock led by Kyler Edwards who hit five 3-pointers and finished with 22 points and Davide Moretti who scored 17 points. Tech, which is at No. 20 in the NCAA NET Rankings, will look to improve on a 2-4 record on the road in conference play and is 4-13 all-time in Ames following an 80-73 win in last year’s regular-season finale that clinched the conference title.