Game Info
Good Guys: Texas Tech Red Raiders (20-6, 11-4)
Bad Guys: West Virginia Mountaineers (16-10, 7-8)
When to Watch: Saturday, February 22nd @ 12:00 pm
Where to Watch: United Supermarkets Arena | Lubbock, Texas
How to Watch: ESPN+
How to Listen: 97.3 FM | Affiliates | Varsity Network
The Line: Texas Tech -11.5
Advanced Stats
| TEXAS TECH | STAT | WEST VIRGINIA |
|---|---|---|
Lineups
| THE STARTERS | Pts / Reb | |
|---|---|---|
| POINT GUARD | Elijah Hawkins (5-11/160) | 9.4 / 6.4* |
| SHOOTING GUARD | Chance McMillian (6-3/190) | 15.0 / 4.3 |
| SMALL FORWARD | Kerwin Walton (6-5/210) | 5.0 / 1.0 |
| POWER FORWARD | Darrion Williams (6-6/225) | 14.9 / 5.3 |
| CENTER | JT Toppin (6-9/225) | 17.2 / 9.1 |
| THE BENCH | Pts / Reb | |
| SIXTH MAN | Christian Anderson (6-2/165) | 9.8 / 2.2* |
| SEVENTH MAN | Kevin Overton (6-5/200) | 8.4 / 3.7 |
| EIGHTH MAN | Federiko Federiko (6-11/215) | 6.0 / 4.9 |
| NINTH MAN | Eemeli Yalaho (6-8/240) | 3.3 / 2.4 |
| TENTH MAN | Leon Horner (6-4/215) | 0.3 / 0.6 |
| ELEVENTH MAN | Jack Francis (6-3/185) | 0.3 / 0.3 |
| TWELFTH MAN | Corbin Green (6-5/230) | 0.0 / 0.5 |
| THIRTEENTH MAN | Jazz Henderson (5-11/175) | – / – |
| THE STARTERS | Pts / Reb | |
| POINT GUARD | Javon Small (6-3/190) | 18.5 / 5.5* |
| SHOOTING GUARD | Sencire Harris (6-4/174) | 5.8 / 4.3 |
| SMALL FORWARD | Jonathan Powell (6-6/191) | 8.5 / 3.3 |
| POWER FORWARD | Toby Okani (6-8/210) | 8.7 / 4.0 |
| CENTER | Amani Hansberry (6-8/240) | 9.7 / 6.2 |
| THE BENCH | Pts / Reb | |
| SIXTH MAN | Joseph Yesufu (6-0/190) | 6.1 / 1.7 |
| SEVENTH MAN | Eduardo Andre (6-11/240) | 5.3 / 4.0 |
| EIGHTH MAN | KJ Tenner (6-0/166) | 2.3 / 1.2* |
| NINTH MAN | – (-/-) | 1.9 / 2.5 |
| TENTH MAN | – (-/-) | – / – |
* Assists.
Starting 5
1. Stats. West Virginia is not a great shooting team, 226th from deep and 161st inside the arc. Not a high turnover team, 85th in the nation, but the Mountaineers are 297th in offensive rebounding and 343rd in free throw rate. Defensively they have turned it up, they are 6th in the nation in guarding the 3-point line, 38th in 2-point defense, and 57th in block percentage. Those defensive shooting stats are what drives the the WVU defense.
2. Scouting. Small is so good, he drives the offense and is just a tremendous scorer. Small has an assist rate of 33%, which is fantastic, a huge steal rate, but he’s a good shooter, not great, 51% for 2-point shots and 35% into 3-point shots. Hansberry and Andre are the team’s best rebounders, Andre is a terrific shot-blocker, oh and he also shots 71% from the field. Powell and Small are the volume shooters from deep, Powell makes just 34% which is fine, just not great.
3. How They Match Up. Texas Tech has advantages in that West Virginia doesn’t go after offensive boards, something that killed them against TCU and they also don’t go to the line at all, even worse than Texas Tech. McMillian is shooting 45% and Anderson is shooting 40% from deep, that alone is impressive. We heard that McMillian was in a boot after the TCU game, which you sort of hate to hear and Texas Tech definitely needs him to be effective against Small, especially on the defensive end and to create offense against this fantastic West Virginia defense.
4. lagniappe | something given as a bonus or extra gift.
5. Official Site. The official site has their preview right here:
No. 9 Texas Tech and West Virginia are set to square off for the only time in the regular season at noon on Saturday at United Supermarkets Arena. The 29th game in the all-time series between Texas Tech and West Virginia will be broadcast on ESPN+ while the Texas Tech Sports Network radio call can be heard locally on Double T 97.3, and on the Varsity app.
With only five games remaining in the regular season, the Red Raiders will have a quick turnaround after playing the Mountaineers by also hosting No. 5 Houston at 8 p.m. on ESPN Big Monday. The Red Raiders (20-6, 11-4 Big 12) have won eight of their last 10 games and are 13-2 on their home court this season with three home games remaining on the schedule. Prior to the game, Tech will honor Tyler Benedict (manager), Federiko Federiko, Elijah Hawkins, Chance McMillian, Noble Robinson (manager), Tyreke Shanklin (manager) and Kerwin Walton during a Senior Day ceremony.
“Every game in this league, it’s on,” Texas Tech coach Grant McCasland said. “There’s nothing that you can just show up to and think that it will work out. West Virginia had a great home win against Cincinnati and played Baylor to overtime. You have to show up with an edge. Our edge has to be how physical can we play this game without fouling. That’s what it boiled down to for us at TCU that we didn’t do well. Our ability not to turn the ball over against them is a big deal. They guard the 3-point well and turn people over. Just doing a great job of getting the right shots and maintaining physicality on both ends is key for us.”