Happy gameday folks, it’s time for the Red Raiders to play some meaningful basketball and these next couple of days could do some real good for their resume. Texas Tech is slated to tip off its first game of the Legends Classic Thursday evening at the Barclays Center, taking on Saint Joseph’s at a whopping 8:00 p.m. tip off time here in the Lone Star State. Let’s dive into some thoughts as the KenPom No. 9 Red Raiders look to take home an MTE win this week.
A look at St. Joe’s
An odd look on the schedule for sure, considering the other two brands that are at this event, but St. Joe’s is actually not the lowest ranked team in KenPom here. Syracuse is. The Hawks enter this game at 3-1 on the season, with their only loss coming to *get this* NET No. 249 Central Connecticut. Woof. Despite this bad look, however, St. Joe’s does have a high-major win on their schedule having taken down Villanova a little more than a week ago. Granted, this was not the fabled Jay Wright-led Villanova of before, this was Kyle Neptune’s Villanova.
Grant McCasland had a tremendous amount of praise the other night for St. Joe’s, going as far as saying “I think they return two of the best players in college basketball.”
Those two players McCasland mentioned are likely Xzayvier Brown (No. 11) and Erik Reynolds II (No. 2), a guard tandem that have been crushing it so far this season.
Brown v. Elijah Hawkins is going to be a matchup that I am very interested to see. Brown, who averages 16.8 points per game, is a bit of a methodical guard and he is a heck of a lot of fun to watch. Doesn’t make a whole lot of flashy plays but he sees the floor very well and has a knack to get where he wants to go with the ball.
Brown shoots with a slight hitch in his jumper, which could potentially explain why he is a meek 20 percent shooter from deep.
But, he makes up for that tremendously with his ability to put his teammates in scoring positions and it has paid dividends for him with 25 assists thus far, including 13 against Nova. He’s a hometown Philadelphia product and is the reigning Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Year. Good to see guys sticking around at a program for more than one year, and Brown has my early respect heading into this game.
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Reynolds is a bit more of what I think the prototypical guard is in this day of basketball. 6-foot-2, 190 pounds so he is a bit on the skinny side but he has athleticism and wants to showcase that getting to the rim. Reynolds, a senior who could potentially get close to breaking Jameer Nelson’s scoring record at St. Joe’s, has struggled from beyond the arc, much like his backcourt brethren Brown.
Reynolds nailed six threes in the Hawks’ season opener, but has only hit two in the three games that followed, now sitting at 8-33 (24.2 percent) from deep this season. He shot 38 percent last season, so not an abysmal number, that could be something to pay attention to in this one.
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Another pivotal matchup to pay attention to is JT Toppin down low against the big men of St. Joe’s. Where the Hawks lack size and length on the perimeter, they make up for it down low with 6-foot-9 Rasheer Fleming and the big big man Justice Ajogbor, a native of Nigeria who stands 6-foot-10 and has plenty of mass on him at 260 pounds.
Ajogbor, in particular, does not move all that well, but like I said, he’s a physical load and how Toppin handles this step up in physicality and talent opposing him will be a better indicator of what he really is.
Overall, this St. Joe’s team is going to shoot the ball from deep a ton, but they also like to get to the free throw line whenever possible. The Hawks have shot 105 three balls this season, nearly half of their total shot output (233), and are also averaging 16.5 free throws made per game. This being Tech’s first true test is not really diving into the deep end, but a significant step up in competition, certainly.
Brief thought or two on Syracuse
Carmelo Anthony’s son can’t help you, Syracuse, not yet, at least. In their most recent game, the Orange were able to scrape out a win over KenPom 181 Youngstown State, in double overtime, I might add. Syracuse had an 8-point lead (with a minute left) in the first overtime before watching that slip away, but eventually pulled through for the win.
This is certainly not the matchup that many will be expecting or hoping for in Friday evening’s affairs, but you’ve gotta prepare, nonetheless.
The Orange are led by former Notre Dame stud JJ Starling, who is averaging 21 points per game after a 28-point showing against YSU. Syracuse as a whole does not like to shoot the ball, nor is it very good from deep either, but Starling is a 33-ish percent shooter from deep.
The other player of note on this roster is TCU transfer Eddie Lampkin, who we are all very familiar with. I wonder how the dude has eligibility left, but that’s college athletics these days.
Lampkin is emotional and loud but above everything else, he is a big man.
Now, about Texas…
Will you be disappointed if Tech does not get the chance to play this game Friday? Save all the comments that might indicate otherwise, because this is what we would all be seated for and this is the big ticket item that could happen.
The big story this season for the Longhorns has been freshman sensation Tre Johnson, who made his way back to the state after spending his senior year at Link Academy in Missouri.
Johnson is Texas’ leading scorer and an absolute sniper from deep, shooting 58.6 percent from three, 17-for-29 on the season so far.
Rodney Terry made big work in the portal, going out and snagging guys such as Jayson Kent and Julian Barry, both from Indiana State. The latter, Barry, to my knowledge, falls in the “Former Future Red Raider” category. I believe there may have been some connections with Kellen Buffington and Larry’s mom, with Larry being from Frisco, but don’t quote me for certain on that.
Jordan Pope, who spent some time at Oregon State, is also on this team and has started all four games for the Longhorns.
The big pull for Terry, however, came in the form of Arthur Kaluma who opted to leave the Big 12 and hightail it down to Austin after one season at Kansas State. This will be the third school that Kaluma has been a part of that he will have to take on Texas Tech– he spent his first two seasons at Creighton, squaring off with the Red Raiders in that dreaded trip to Maui two seasons ago. We know what Kaluma is all about, he’s a bit of a do-it-all kind of forward who has played a ton of high level basketball.
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A lot to process but just wanted to give an overall breakdown of what the field looks like as the Red Raiders take to Brooklyn. Tip off tonight at 8:00 p.m., on ESPN2. See you then.
