Game Info
Good Guys: Texas Tech Red Raiders (3-1, 0-0)
Bad Guys: Northern Iowa Panthers (1-3, 0-0)
When to Watch: Thursday, November 23nd @ 11:00 am
Where to Watch: Imperial Arena | Paradise Island, Bahamas
How to Watch: ESPN2 | WatchESPN
How to Listen: 97.3 FM | Affiliates | Varsity Network
The Line: Texas Tech -7.5
Advanced Stats
| TEXAS TECH | STAT | VILLANOVA |
|---|---|---|
Lineups
| THE STARTERS | Pts / Reb | |
|---|---|---|
| POINT GUARD | Joe Toussaint (6-0/195) | 12.3 / 3.0* |
| SHOOTING GUARD | Pop Isaacs (6-2/180) | 12.8 / 3.3* |
| SMALL FORWARD | Devan Cambridge (6-6/210) | 8.0 / 3.8 |
| POWER FORWARD | Darrion Williams (6-8/225) | 9.5 / 7.3 |
| CENTER | Warren Washington (7-0/235) | 8.8 / 8.3 |
| THE BENCH | Pts / Reb | |
| SIXTH MAN | Chance McMillian (6-3/185) | 8.5 / 4.3 |
| SEVENTH MAN | Lamar Washington (6-4/200) | 5.8 / 3.3 |
| EIGHTH MAN | Robert Jennings (6-7/230) | 0.5 / 1.0 |
| NINTH MAN | Kerwin Walton (6-5/210) | 1.0 / 0.7 |
| TENTH MAN | Eemeli Yalaho (6-8/240) | 0.5 / 0.5 |
| ELEVENTH MAN | D’Maurian Williams (6-3/195) | 1.0 / 0.0 |
| TWELFTH MAN | KyeRon Lindsay (6-8/215) | – / – |
| THIRTEENTH MAN | Drew Steffe (6-5/200) | – / – |
| FOURTEENTH MAN | Jack Francis (6-3/185) | – / – |
| THE STARTERS | Pts / Reb | |
| POINT GUARD | Bowen Born (5-11/170) | 7.7 / 2.0* |
| SHOOTING GUARD | Trey Campbell (6-4/185) | 7.3 / 1.0 |
| SMALL FORWARD | Tytan Anderson (6-6/205) | 10.3 / 6.0 |
| POWER FORWARD | Nate Heise (6-5/205) | 14.3 / 5.5 |
| CENTER | Jacob Hutson (6-11/250) | 10.8 / 4.5 |
| THE BENCH | Pts / Reb | |
| SIXTH MAN | Michael Duax (6-6/215) | 5.8 / 4.0 |
| SEVENTH MAN | Landon Wolf (6-4/195) | 8.5 / 2.3 |
| EIGHTH MAN | RJ Taylor (5-11/175) | 2.5 / 2.0 |
| NINTH MAN | Cole Henry (6-9/240) | 2.0 / 2.0 |
| TENTH MAN | Kyle Pock (6-96/210) | 5.5 / 1.5 |
* Assists.
Starting 5
1. Stats. We’ll do a quick summary of what happened yesterday. Missed free throws was a problem, 13 of 22, only 59%, which is an out of the ordinary, while Villanova was 26 of 32. Villanova dominated the points inside, 26 to 14 and bench points, 26-16. The Wildcats had just 10 turnovers to 20 for Texas Tech. That just has to get better. Both teams shot basically the same, 41% for Texas Tech and 43% for Villanova, so free throws and turnovers were the reason why Texas Tech fell to Villanova.
To the Panthers, they are okay offensively, right now a terrible 3-point shooting team, 301st overall, and they are getting a ton of shots blocked, 321st. Also not great free throw rate, 208th, or offensive rebounding, 189, and the turnover percent is 247th overall. Defensively, things are not good, allowing eFG% is 296th overall, 294th in opponent free throw rate, and 276th in forcing opponents to turn over the ball. Teams are shooting incredibly well against Northern Iowa and can’t block a shot to save their lives.
2. Scouting. Heise is the best player, a solid shooter inside the arc, 69%, and is a decent rebounder for his size. Hutson, despite his size, is not a good rebounder and is only shooting 48% from the floor. Wolf is the team’s best shooter, so keep an eye on him. Northern Iowa doesn’t have a high assist-rate guy, it’s definitely not Wolf who just likes to shoot the ball. Wolf also has only attempted 5 2-point attempts, but 17 3-point attempts. The forwards, Anderson, Duaz and Henry are the team’s best rebounders.
3. How They Match Up. T-Rank has Texas Tech winning this game by 8 points or so and what I’ve addressed above, turnover rate is something that Texas Tech should do really well here because this is something Northern Iowa doesn’t do well. I thought that Pop Isaacs is forcing shots, just too many that aren’t in the flow of anything, yet when he let things come to him, it was fine. Chance McMillian seems to be shooting the ball better and I think I’d like to see Darrion Williams get the ball more in this game.
4. lagniappe | something given as a bonus or extra gift.
5. Official Site. The official site has their preview right here:
Texas Tech and Northern Iowa will start the Thanksgiving Day slate of games at the Bad Boy Mowers Battle 4 Atlantis with tip-off set for 11 a.m. (CST) on Thursday at Imperial Arena. The Red Raiders (3-1) are coming off their first loss of the season after dropping an 85-69 decision to Villanova on Wednesday, while the Panthers (1-3) took a 91-69 loss to North Carolina in the tournament’s first game. The Tech-UNI matchup is the first in history between the two programs.
“You’ve always got to rely on your training,” Texas Tech coach Grant McCasland said of the quick turnaround between games. “It’s what you’ve done in October and back in the summer. It’s preparation for these moments. I know this team has practiced really hard. You have to go out there and give great effort. It doesn’t matter the scheme. You have to have great effort. It’s how you improve in these quick turnarounds. We have to improve in every opportunity we have. This team can do that. We aren’t close to where we’ll be at the end. Now we have to put it into play against at great UNI team tomorrow.”