On the Pitch
Texas Tech soccer will host LSU on Friday night at 7:00 p.m. after having earned a national seed. Congrats!
On the Court (Basketball)
Lady Raider basketball hosts New Mexico tonight at 6:00 p.m. with the game broadcast on ESPN+:
The New Mexico Lobos are 1-1 heading into Tuesday’s contest, with a close loss to Northern Arizona, 78-80, and a 10-point win against Morehead State, 66-56. New Mexico currently has three players averaging double-figure scoring in Viane Cumber (18.5), Destinee Hooks (13.5) and Alyssa Hargrove (11.5). Cumber also averages 10 rebounds per game for a double-double, followed by Hulda Joaquim with 8.5 rebounds per game. As a team, the Lobos are scoring 72 points per game while holding opponents to 68.0. They are shooting 40 percent from the field (52-for-130) and are totaling almost 50 rebounds per game.
On the Gridiron
Lubbock Avalanche-Journal’s Don Williams asks if teams who are making big jumps, like BYU and Colorado, can make jumps, why can’t Texas Tech:
As I told someone the other day, Tech’s program, maybe as much as any in college football during my lifetime, has had the remarkable ability to win at least six games and almost never more than nine. The Red Raiders are rarely terrible, rarely great.
For a moment Saturday, greater than usual was there for the taking. Fox Big Noon Kickoff had set up shop here. The crowd was juiced. Too juiced. So juiced that Joey McGuire would take the mic early in the fourth quarter and, like a high-school principal, scold students to stop throwing stuff onto the field.
The Red Raiders channeled the crowd’s energy and scored on their first three possessions to lead 13-0. Land another haymaker or two, make it a three-score game and the comeback would have been a tall order, even for Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter.
As too often happens, though, the Red Raiders faded badly. They went scoreless on nine of their next 10 possessions, mixing in three punts, two turnovers and two failed fourth downs during that stretch. The offense asserted itself with five plays of at least 17 yards on those first three series, then had five such plays the rest of the game. By the time they regained their footing, it didn’t matter.
Lubbock Avalanche-Journal’s Nathan Giese writes about how Deion Sanders admires Joey McGuire:
Deion has a similar admiration for McGuire. That’s why it wasn’t a surprise to him that McGuire got on the stadium mic and pleaded with Tech fans to stop throwing non-tortilla items onto the field, saying, “He handled it professionally and that’s indicative of who he is.”
Asked later about his bond with McGuire, Deion continued to heap praise.
“Joey is pure class,” Deion said. “I look up to Joey. Back in high school in Texas at Cedar Hill, he was him. Everybody wants their kid to have the opportunity to play with Joey. He’s still one of those guys that when I have a question, I can call him. … He’s one of my favorites.”