https://texastech.com/news/2018/12/31/mens-basketball-preview-west-virginia.aspx
No. 11 Red Raiders at West Virginia | 6 p.m. (CST), Wednesday | Morgantown, West Virginia | ESPNU | TTSN
LUBBOCK, Texas – A new season begins on Wednesday when No. 11 Texas Tech takes on West Virginia at 6 p.m. (CST) in Morgantown, West Virginia in the first of 18 Big 12 Conference games.
The Red Raiders (11-1, 0-0 Big 12) are currently No. 5 in the NCAA NET rankings, No. 11 in the Associated Press Top-25, No. 11 in the USA TODAY Coaches Poll and No. 8 in the ESPN Power Rankings after going through their non-conference schedule with only one loss to No. 1 Duke. West Virginia (8-4, 0-0 Big 12) is 6-1 at the WVU Coliseum this season and is 6-0 all-time against TTU on its home court coming into the first game of 2019.
"They have good players and a hall of fame coach," Texas Tech coach Chris Beard said. "With the conference season it's back to 0-0. That's what I'm trying to get the guys to understand. Everything you've done to this point is basically just for preparation. It's 0-0 Texas Tech at 0-0 West Virginia. It's a new season and for teams that have played well, it really doesn't mean anything. Teams that may not have played their best have a new beginning. It's unique to college basketball with Wednesday being a new opportunity for all of us."
Texas Tech, which is 11-1 through 12 games for the fourth straight season, is coming off a 71-46 win over the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley last Friday where the Red Raiders limited the Vaqueros to 4-for-23 shooting (17.4 percent) in the second half to secure the win. TTU was led by 19 points from Jarrett Culver and a 13/10 double-double by Deshawn Corprew who was making his first career start. The Red Raiders are now 8-0 at home, 3-1 in neutral-court games and will be playing their first true road game on Wednesday night.
TTU enters Big 12 leading the nation by limiting opponents to 32.8 percent shooting from the field and is second nationally by holding the opposition to 52.3 points per game and 24.4 percent shooting on 3-pointers. The Red Raiders have 11 wins that have all come by a double-digit margin and are currently fourth in the nation with a 23.1 scoring margin. The team is statistically ranked No. 23 by shooting 49.3 percent on offense, is 25th with a 4.3 turnover-margin advantage and 29th with a 7.1 rebounding margin advantage.
SERIES HISTORY: West Virginia has a 12-3 all-time advantage against Texas Tech after taking two of three last season, including a 66-63 win in the Big 12 Championship in Kansas City. The Red Raiders earned a 72-71 win over the Mountaineers in the first game last year on Jan. 23, 2018 in Lubbock where WVU was ranked No. 2 but would drop an 84-74 decision in Morgantown on Feb. 26 before the conference tournament loss. This will be the first time the teams have opened Big 12 play against each other. TTU is 0-6 all-time in Morgantown, West Virginia. The two teams went to a pair of overtime games in Beard's first season with the Red Raiders earning a 77-76 overtime victory on Jan. 3, 2017 before WVU took an 83-74 double-overtime win on Feb. 18, 2017. The two programs met for the first time on March 24, 2005 in the NCAA Sweet 16 with the Mountaineers earning a 65-60 win in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
UP NEXT: The Red Raiders will return to Texas to host Kansas State at 1 p.m. on Saturday and Oklahoma on Tuesday, Jan. 8 at 8 p.m. in their first two Big 12 home games at the United Supermarkets Arena. Texas Tech was 8-1 in Big 12 play on its home court last season and is 14-4 at home in conference action with Beard leading the program.
PLAYER NOTES:Jarrett Culver leads the Red Raiders with 19.6 points, 5.6 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game entering Big 12 play. A sophomore from Lubbock, Culver is on the Jerry West Award and Oscar Robertson Trophy watch lists and was a Big 12 Preseason Honorable Mention Selection. He has scored in double figures in all 12 games, led the Red Raiders in scoring in 11, tops the team with 19 3-pointers and has scored over 20 points in six games. Culver recorded a career-high with 30 points against Abilene Christian on Dec. 20 where he went 12-for-13 from the field and hit four 3-pointers. He was named the Big 12 Player of the Week after the performance and is now coming off a 19-point game against UTRGV where he was 8-for-13 from the field and also had three assists. Culver, who is shooting 56.3 percent from the field and 45.2 percent on 3-pointers, comes into the matchup against WVU having 32 double-figure scoring performances and 650 career points in 49 games as a Red Raider.
Texas Tech sophomore Deshawn Corprewis coming off a career-night where he recorded a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds against UTRGV. Corprew, who made his first career start in the game, was 6-for-8 from the field to match a previous career-high of 13 points that he also had against Northern Colorado and pulled down four offensive and six defensive rebounds for a new career-high in rebounding. A transfer from South Plains College, Corprew is averaging 7.4 points and 4.9 rebounds per game and is shooting 59.7 percent from the field.
After losing five seniors off last season's NCAA Elite Eight team, Texas Tech found a way to remain a veteran team through recruiting by adding graduate transfers Matt Mooney (University of South Dakota) and Tariq Owens (St. John's) to go along with returners Norense Odiase and Brandone Francis to make up a senior class of four for the Red Raiders. An Odenton, Maryland native, Owens led the BIG EAST the past two seasons in blocked shots and currently second in the Big 12 with 2.4 blocks per game (29 total). He established a new Texas Tech single-game record with eight blocks in the win over Memphis on Dec. 1 in Miami after starting his Red Raider career with six blocks against Incarnate Word in the season opener. Owens is averaging 8.4 points and 5.0 rebounds per game after scoring 10 points in the win over UTRGV for his fourth double-digit scoring performance of the season. He had a season-high 18 points against Southern Cal and has recorded the team's first double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds in his eight-block performance against Memphis. Mooney is adding 10.4 points, 4.1 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game and leads the Big 12 with 2.17 steals per game. He is coming off his fourth six-assist performance of the season after dishing out six assists to go along with eight points, four rebounds and two steals against the Vaqueros last Friday. An Illinois native, Mooney started his career at Air Force before playing two seasons at South Dakota where he led his team in scoring both years. He is shooting 45.2 percent from the field this season and has scored in double figures in six games. Mooney, who leads the team with 26 steals after also having two against Duke, scored 14 points against ACU and had a season-high 17 points back on Nov. 19 against USC. He's currently second on the team with 13 3-pointers and is shooting 40.6 percent from beyond the arc.
Odiase is in his fifth season at Texas Tech and has played in 102 games. He currently has 456 career rebounds after leading the Red Raiders with seven against Duke. Odiase, who had started the first 11 games of the season, did not play against UTRGV. A Fort Worth native, Odiase is averaging 4.6 points and 5.5 rebounds per game and is shooting 61.3 percent from the field. He had a career-high 13 rebounds in the win over Southeastern Louisiana on Nov. 13 after a 10-rebounds performance against Mississippi Valley State. Odiase scored seven points to go along with his seven rebounds against the Blue Devils after going 3-for-4 from the field. Francis has played a valuable reserve role to start his senior season and is coming off scoring eight points where he was 4-for-6 from the field against UTRGV. A Dominican Republic native, he started his career at Florida before transferring to Lubbock where averaged 5.1 points per game with 33 3-pointers as a junior during the Elite 8 run, including a career-high 17 points in the win over West Virginia. He's currently averaging 5.3 points, 2.8 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game for the Red Raiders. Francis had a season-high 13 points in the opener against UIW and would contribute 10 points and a career-high six assists in the neutral-court win over Memphis.
Texas Tech sophomore Davide Morettihas started all 12 games for the Red Raiders this season and making one start in 37 games played as a freshman. A coach's son from Italy, Moretti is averaging 8.4 points and 2.6 assists per game in his second season with the program. He scored a career-high 17 points in wins over Southern Cal and Mississippi Valley State and has two games with six assists. Moretti made a career-high five 3-pointers in his 17-point performance against MVSU. Kyler Edwards leads the TTU reserves with 7.7 points per game to start his freshman season. A freshman from Arlington, Edwards is coming off a career-high three steals against UTRGV where he also had seven points in the win. He has recorded four double-digit scoring performances, including going off for a career-high 19 points against Northern Colorado where he went 7-for-7 from the field with four 3-pointers. He is shooting 34-for-68 (50 percent) from the field with 11 3-pointers.
WVU NOTES: The Mountaineers enters Big 12 play having won two straight with a win over Jacksonville State on Dec. 22 and then a 78-68 win over Lehigh on Sunday. WVU is scoring 79.3 points per game with a 42.6 shooting percentage, but is also allowing 73.2 points through 12 games this season. The team is 6-1 on their home court this season, including a 10-point win over Pitt. Esa Ahmad leads the Mountaineers with 14.3 points per game after going for 21 points and nine rebounds on Sunday against Lehigh. Sagaba Konate tops the team with 8.0 rebounds per game and is adding 13.6 points, while James Bolden is at 11.5 points per game and leads the team with 34 assists. Lamont West adds 10.8 points and 4.7 rebounds while Derek Culver is coming off an 11/11 double-double against Lehigh. Culver has played in only two games coming into Wednesday night against the Red Raiders.
"Coach Huggins' teams are always going to play really hard," Beard said. "They are not going to beat themselves. They'll take good shots and they have an identity. They are the best in the Big 12 in rebounding, it's not even close. Offensively, they produce more shots and opportunities for themselves by crashing. Blocking out and rebounding will be key for us."
COVERING THE RED RAIDERS: Texas Tech and WVU will be televised on ESPNU with Clay Matvick and Tim Welsh calling the game. On the radio, Geoff Haxton and Chris Level will broadcast on Texas Tech Sports Network's flagship station Double T 97.3 in Lubbock. Fans can interact with the broadcast by following @GunsUpRadio on Twitter.
POLL NOTES: The Red Raiders, who were unranked in the preseason polls, have now been ranked in six straight polls. TTU's No. 11 ranking is the highest it has been this season and is at No. 11 for the third time this season after entering the poll for the first time at No. 20 in the fourth week of the season. The team appeared in 14 AP polls last season and advanced to the NCAA Elite Eight, but would enter this season unranked through three weeks. The Red Raiders finished the 2017-18 season at No. 6 in the USA TODAY Coaches Poll and were in its Top-10 rankings seven times during the season. The No. 6 ranking to finish the season matched a program-best set on Feb. 12, 2018 in the USA TODAY Coaches poll and on Feb. 19, 2018 in the AP Top 25 Poll.
No. 11 Red Raiders at West Virginia | 6 p.m. (CST), Wednesday | Morgantown, West Virginia | ESPNU | TTSN
LUBBOCK, Texas – A new season begins on Wednesday when No. 11 Texas Tech takes on West Virginia at 6 p.m. (CST) in Morgantown, West Virginia in the first of 18 Big 12 Conference games.
The Red Raiders (11-1, 0-0 Big 12) are currently No. 5 in the NCAA NET rankings, No. 11 in the Associated Press Top-25, No. 11 in the USA TODAY Coaches Poll and No. 8 in the ESPN Power Rankings after going through their non-conference schedule with only one loss to No. 1 Duke. West Virginia (8-4, 0-0 Big 12) is 6-1 at the WVU Coliseum this season and is 6-0 all-time against TTU on its home court coming into the first game of 2019.
"They have good players and a hall of fame coach," Texas Tech coach Chris Beard said. "With the conference season it's back to 0-0. That's what I'm trying to get the guys to understand. Everything you've done to this point is basically just for preparation. It's 0-0 Texas Tech at 0-0 West Virginia. It's a new season and for teams that have played well, it really doesn't mean anything. Teams that may not have played their best have a new beginning. It's unique to college basketball with Wednesday being a new opportunity for all of us."
Texas Tech, which is 11-1 through 12 games for the fourth straight season, is coming off a 71-46 win over the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley last Friday where the Red Raiders limited the Vaqueros to 4-for-23 shooting (17.4 percent) in the second half to secure the win. TTU was led by 19 points from Jarrett Culver and a 13/10 double-double by Deshawn Corprew who was making his first career start. The Red Raiders are now 8-0 at home, 3-1 in neutral-court games and will be playing their first true road game on Wednesday night.
TTU enters Big 12 leading the nation by limiting opponents to 32.8 percent shooting from the field and is second nationally by holding the opposition to 52.3 points per game and 24.4 percent shooting on 3-pointers. The Red Raiders have 11 wins that have all come by a double-digit margin and are currently fourth in the nation with a 23.1 scoring margin. The team is statistically ranked No. 23 by shooting 49.3 percent on offense, is 25th with a 4.3 turnover-margin advantage and 29th with a 7.1 rebounding margin advantage.
SERIES HISTORY: West Virginia has a 12-3 all-time advantage against Texas Tech after taking two of three last season, including a 66-63 win in the Big 12 Championship in Kansas City. The Red Raiders earned a 72-71 win over the Mountaineers in the first game last year on Jan. 23, 2018 in Lubbock where WVU was ranked No. 2 but would drop an 84-74 decision in Morgantown on Feb. 26 before the conference tournament loss. This will be the first time the teams have opened Big 12 play against each other. TTU is 0-6 all-time in Morgantown, West Virginia. The two teams went to a pair of overtime games in Beard's first season with the Red Raiders earning a 77-76 overtime victory on Jan. 3, 2017 before WVU took an 83-74 double-overtime win on Feb. 18, 2017. The two programs met for the first time on March 24, 2005 in the NCAA Sweet 16 with the Mountaineers earning a 65-60 win in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
UP NEXT: The Red Raiders will return to Texas to host Kansas State at 1 p.m. on Saturday and Oklahoma on Tuesday, Jan. 8 at 8 p.m. in their first two Big 12 home games at the United Supermarkets Arena. Texas Tech was 8-1 in Big 12 play on its home court last season and is 14-4 at home in conference action with Beard leading the program.
PLAYER NOTES:Jarrett Culver leads the Red Raiders with 19.6 points, 5.6 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game entering Big 12 play. A sophomore from Lubbock, Culver is on the Jerry West Award and Oscar Robertson Trophy watch lists and was a Big 12 Preseason Honorable Mention Selection. He has scored in double figures in all 12 games, led the Red Raiders in scoring in 11, tops the team with 19 3-pointers and has scored over 20 points in six games. Culver recorded a career-high with 30 points against Abilene Christian on Dec. 20 where he went 12-for-13 from the field and hit four 3-pointers. He was named the Big 12 Player of the Week after the performance and is now coming off a 19-point game against UTRGV where he was 8-for-13 from the field and also had three assists. Culver, who is shooting 56.3 percent from the field and 45.2 percent on 3-pointers, comes into the matchup against WVU having 32 double-figure scoring performances and 650 career points in 49 games as a Red Raider.
Texas Tech sophomore Deshawn Corprewis coming off a career-night where he recorded a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds against UTRGV. Corprew, who made his first career start in the game, was 6-for-8 from the field to match a previous career-high of 13 points that he also had against Northern Colorado and pulled down four offensive and six defensive rebounds for a new career-high in rebounding. A transfer from South Plains College, Corprew is averaging 7.4 points and 4.9 rebounds per game and is shooting 59.7 percent from the field.
After losing five seniors off last season's NCAA Elite Eight team, Texas Tech found a way to remain a veteran team through recruiting by adding graduate transfers Matt Mooney (University of South Dakota) and Tariq Owens (St. John's) to go along with returners Norense Odiase and Brandone Francis to make up a senior class of four for the Red Raiders. An Odenton, Maryland native, Owens led the BIG EAST the past two seasons in blocked shots and currently second in the Big 12 with 2.4 blocks per game (29 total). He established a new Texas Tech single-game record with eight blocks in the win over Memphis on Dec. 1 in Miami after starting his Red Raider career with six blocks against Incarnate Word in the season opener. Owens is averaging 8.4 points and 5.0 rebounds per game after scoring 10 points in the win over UTRGV for his fourth double-digit scoring performance of the season. He had a season-high 18 points against Southern Cal and has recorded the team's first double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds in his eight-block performance against Memphis. Mooney is adding 10.4 points, 4.1 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game and leads the Big 12 with 2.17 steals per game. He is coming off his fourth six-assist performance of the season after dishing out six assists to go along with eight points, four rebounds and two steals against the Vaqueros last Friday. An Illinois native, Mooney started his career at Air Force before playing two seasons at South Dakota where he led his team in scoring both years. He is shooting 45.2 percent from the field this season and has scored in double figures in six games. Mooney, who leads the team with 26 steals after also having two against Duke, scored 14 points against ACU and had a season-high 17 points back on Nov. 19 against USC. He's currently second on the team with 13 3-pointers and is shooting 40.6 percent from beyond the arc.
Odiase is in his fifth season at Texas Tech and has played in 102 games. He currently has 456 career rebounds after leading the Red Raiders with seven against Duke. Odiase, who had started the first 11 games of the season, did not play against UTRGV. A Fort Worth native, Odiase is averaging 4.6 points and 5.5 rebounds per game and is shooting 61.3 percent from the field. He had a career-high 13 rebounds in the win over Southeastern Louisiana on Nov. 13 after a 10-rebounds performance against Mississippi Valley State. Odiase scored seven points to go along with his seven rebounds against the Blue Devils after going 3-for-4 from the field. Francis has played a valuable reserve role to start his senior season and is coming off scoring eight points where he was 4-for-6 from the field against UTRGV. A Dominican Republic native, he started his career at Florida before transferring to Lubbock where averaged 5.1 points per game with 33 3-pointers as a junior during the Elite 8 run, including a career-high 17 points in the win over West Virginia. He's currently averaging 5.3 points, 2.8 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game for the Red Raiders. Francis had a season-high 13 points in the opener against UIW and would contribute 10 points and a career-high six assists in the neutral-court win over Memphis.
Texas Tech sophomore Davide Morettihas started all 12 games for the Red Raiders this season and making one start in 37 games played as a freshman. A coach's son from Italy, Moretti is averaging 8.4 points and 2.6 assists per game in his second season with the program. He scored a career-high 17 points in wins over Southern Cal and Mississippi Valley State and has two games with six assists. Moretti made a career-high five 3-pointers in his 17-point performance against MVSU. Kyler Edwards leads the TTU reserves with 7.7 points per game to start his freshman season. A freshman from Arlington, Edwards is coming off a career-high three steals against UTRGV where he also had seven points in the win. He has recorded four double-digit scoring performances, including going off for a career-high 19 points against Northern Colorado where he went 7-for-7 from the field with four 3-pointers. He is shooting 34-for-68 (50 percent) from the field with 11 3-pointers.
WVU NOTES: The Mountaineers enters Big 12 play having won two straight with a win over Jacksonville State on Dec. 22 and then a 78-68 win over Lehigh on Sunday. WVU is scoring 79.3 points per game with a 42.6 shooting percentage, but is also allowing 73.2 points through 12 games this season. The team is 6-1 on their home court this season, including a 10-point win over Pitt. Esa Ahmad leads the Mountaineers with 14.3 points per game after going for 21 points and nine rebounds on Sunday against Lehigh. Sagaba Konate tops the team with 8.0 rebounds per game and is adding 13.6 points, while James Bolden is at 11.5 points per game and leads the team with 34 assists. Lamont West adds 10.8 points and 4.7 rebounds while Derek Culver is coming off an 11/11 double-double against Lehigh. Culver has played in only two games coming into Wednesday night against the Red Raiders.
"Coach Huggins' teams are always going to play really hard," Beard said. "They are not going to beat themselves. They'll take good shots and they have an identity. They are the best in the Big 12 in rebounding, it's not even close. Offensively, they produce more shots and opportunities for themselves by crashing. Blocking out and rebounding will be key for us."
COVERING THE RED RAIDERS: Texas Tech and WVU will be televised on ESPNU with Clay Matvick and Tim Welsh calling the game. On the radio, Geoff Haxton and Chris Level will broadcast on Texas Tech Sports Network's flagship station Double T 97.3 in Lubbock. Fans can interact with the broadcast by following @GunsUpRadio on Twitter.
POLL NOTES: The Red Raiders, who were unranked in the preseason polls, have now been ranked in six straight polls. TTU's No. 11 ranking is the highest it has been this season and is at No. 11 for the third time this season after entering the poll for the first time at No. 20 in the fourth week of the season. The team appeared in 14 AP polls last season and advanced to the NCAA Elite Eight, but would enter this season unranked through three weeks. The Red Raiders finished the 2017-18 season at No. 6 in the USA TODAY Coaches Poll and were in its Top-10 rankings seven times during the season. The No. 6 ranking to finish the season matched a program-best set on Feb. 12, 2018 in the USA TODAY Coaches poll and on Feb. 19, 2018 in the AP Top 25 Poll.
