Game Info

Good Guys: Texas Tech Red Raiders (5-1, 0-0)
Bad Guys: Butler Bulldogs (5-2, 0-0)
When to Watch: Thursday, November 30th @ 5:30 pm
Where to Watch: Hinkle Fieldhouse | Indianapolis, IN
How to Watch: FS1 | FOX Sports
How to Listen: 97.3 FM | Affiliates | Varsity Network
The Line: Butler -1.5

Advanced Stats

Lineups

* Assists.

Starting 5

1. Stats. Before we get to Butler, I wanted to mention to those that trend on the younger side of this audience that Hinkle Fieldhouse is where the final game in the movie Hoosiers was filmed and was the actual home to the Indiana high school championship until the 1970’s. Hinkle Fieldhouse has been the home to Butler since 1928 so the building itself is nearly 100 years old, which is pretty great.

📍 Hinkle Fieldhouse pic.twitter.com/xsZv9kVwP0

— Texas Tech Basketball (@TexasTechMBB) November 30, 2023

Butler is good, the offense is predicated upon being a very good 2-point shooting team, 38th in the nation at 56% and being a low turnover team, 52nd in the nation. They are a poor offensive rebounding team, 271st in the nation, and not great at getting to the line, 187th. They do make their free throws, 24th in the nation. Defensively, they do good things, including guarding the 3-point line, 29th in the nation, and inside as well, 69th in the nation. The Bulldogs limit opponent free throws, 3tth in the nation.

2. Scouting. Brooks is the best player and best shooter, a low turnover guy, doesn’t have the ball in his hands a ton and is probably sitting outside just waiting to get his shot up. Telfort is another low-turnover guy that shoots well inside the arc. Screen and Kape are the best rebounders and get to the line as well. Telfort and Davis, along with Brooks are the best shooters.

3. How They Match Up. T-Rank has Texas Tech favored by 0.5 points, so it is basically a toss-up. Texas Tech’s offense isn’t quite the liability it was before the Bahamas, but we’ll see how it is on the road, not at a neutral site venue. Texas Tech will have to get Isaacs and McMillian shooting well from the outside. Williams has been so good and Toussaint has been pretty good too, high assist rate and lower turnovers with a nice offensive rating.

4. lagniappe | something given as a bonus or extra gift.

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

Ready for another battle after returning from the Bahamas with a 5-1 overall season record, the Texas Tech men’s basketball team will now travel to play Butler at 5:30 p.m. (CST) on Thursday in a Big 12-Big East Battle matchup at historic Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. The Red Raiders will be playing their first true road game after going 2-1 at Battle 4 Atlantis with neutral-court wins over Michigan and Northern Iowa and an opening-round loss to No. 18 Villanova. The Bulldogs (5-2) were in Orlando, Florida last week and are coming off a pair of wins over Penn State and Boise State after a loss to No. 13 Florida Atlantic at the ESPN Events Invitational.

“We’re really excited about this opportunity,” Texas Tech coach Grant McCasland said. “Representing the Big 12 is a big deal to us. Butler is a fantastic team and playing in Hinkle Fieldhouse will be an awesome opportunity for our group. We have a ton of respect for them. Togetherness is important in road games. How committed you are in hostile environments. We just haven’t faced that as a team yet. Just neutral site and home games so far. How do you do it with adversity? You come together. There is cohesion involved. Everything has to be at the highest level. That’s our emphasis. How connected can we stay and how committed over the course of 40 minutes on the road. It’s always that, but it’s amplified when you play road games.”