RED RAIDER PREVIEW: at LSU
No. 10 Texas Tech at LSU | 1 p.m., Saturday | TV: ESPN2 | Maravich Center – Baton Rouge, Louisiana
January 28, 2021
texastech.com
LUBBOCK, Texas – No. 10 Texas Tech is set to take on LSU at 1 p.m. on Saturday at the Maravich Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana as part of the eighth annual SEC/Big 12 Challenge. The Red Raiders are 4-3 in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge, including going 3-1 under head coach Chris Beard in the matchups.
Tech (11-5, 4-4 Big 12) is coming off an 88-87 loss at No. 11 West Virginia on Monday, while LSU (11-4, 6-3 SEC) snapped a two-game losing streak with a 78-66 win over Texas A&M on Tuesday where it scored the final 18 points of the game. Texas Tech is 4-3 all-time against LSU with the last matchup coming in the 2017 SEC/Big 12 Challenge and the Red Raiders earning a 77-64 win in Lubbock.
Mac McClung scored a season-high 30 points at WVU and is averaging 25.3 points per game in the last three games after also scoring 24 against No. 2 Baylor and 22 points in the win at No. 5 Texas. McClung leads the Big 12 by averaging 21.0 points per game in conference play and is second overall by averaging 17.2 points per game for the season. He is 10-for-21 on 3-pointers and 16-for-19 from the free-throw line in the past three games. Terrence Shannon, Jr. had 15 points and eight rebounds at WVU and is now averaging 12.9 points and 5.2 rebounds for the season, while Kevin McCullar is third in the Big 12 with 8.0 rebounds per game in conference play. Shannon was named one of 10 finalists for the Julius Erving Award on Wednesday. McCullar had eight rebounds at WVU and is now averaging 9.9 points and 7.3 rebounds per game this season. Kyler Edwards comes into the matchup at LSU leading the team with 39 assists and is averaging 10.0 points per game, while Marcus Santos-Silva is at 8.9 points, 6.1 rebounds and 1.2 blocks per game. McClung has scored 985 points in his career and Santos-Silva has 970 as they approach the 1,000-point milestone.
LSU is averaging 83.7 points per game and will face a Red Raider team that is 15th nationally by limiting teams to only 61.7 points per game. Tech has held 12 of 16 opponents under 70. Cameron Thomas leads the Tigers with 22.1 points per game after going off for 28 against the Aggies, while Trendon Watford is scoring 18.3 points per and Javonte Smart is at 14.6. Darius Days leads LSU with 7.8 rebounds per game and is also in double-figure scoring at 12.2 ppg. A 6-foot-4 freshman from Chesapeake, Virginia, Thomas is the leading scorer among all freshmen in the NCAA with his 22.1 points per game and is among the Top 10 candidates for the 2021 Jerry West Shooting Guard of the Year Award. Oklahoma State's Cade Cunningham is second for freshmen at 17.8 ppg. The Tigers are currently 8-1 on their home court this season under head coach Will Wade.
MEDIA: The game will be televised on ESPN2 with Tom Hart and Dane Bradshaw on the call, while on the radio Geoff Haxton and Chris Level will broadcast the game locally on Double T 97.3 and on the Texas Tech Sports Network.
RANKINGS: Texas Tech is back in the top-10 for the third season in five years under Beard after breaking into the AP and USA TODAY Coaches Poll on Monday. The Red Raiders began this season at No. 14 in the AP Preseason Poll and have been ranked throughout. The team is currently at No. 14 in the NET Rankings and No. 12 on KenPom.com.
STAT RANKINGS: The Red Raiders matched a Big 12 single-game record with only two turnovers at West Virginia and now lead the Big 12 with a 6.7 turnover margin advantage and are second with only 10.9 turnovers per game. Nationally, the turnover margin ranks fourth throughout all of college basketball and Tech is also fifth with 283 made free throws and 394 total attempts from the line. The Red Raiders are 15th in the NCAA by forcing 17.6 turnovers per game and by limiting opponents to only 61.7 points per game. Individually, McClung leads the Big 12 with 275 total points and is second in the conference at 17.2 points per game. Santos-Silva is third in the Big 12 with 19 total blocks and 2.81 offensive rebounds per game, while Edwards and McClung are tied for sixth with 29 total 3-pointers made.
BIG 12/SEC CHALLENGE: The eighth annual event will consist of 10 games as every Big 12 member faces 10 squads from the Southeastern Conference. The Red Raiders are 4-3 overall in the challenge, including going 3-1 under Beard in the matchups. Tech has also played South Carolina, Auburn, Alabama and Arkansas twice in the challenge. This will mark the sixth consecutive year for all games to be played in one day and includes matchups of: Auburn at Baylor, Iowa State at Mississippi State, Kansas at Tennessee, Texas A&M at Kansas State, Alabama at Oklahoma, Arkansas at Oklahoma State, TCU at Missouri, Texas at Kentucky and Florida at West Virginia. Big 12 teams are 40-30 (.571) in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge after a tie in 2020.
Texas Tech – SEC/Big 12 Challenge History
Date, Matchup; Location
01/25/2020: Kentucky 76, Texas Tech 74 (OT); Lubbock, Texas
01/26/2019: Texas Tech 67, Arkansas 64; Lubbock, Texas
01/27/2018: Texas Tech 70, South Carolina 63; Columbia, South Carolina
01/28/2017: Texas Tech 77, LSU 64; Lubbock, Texas
01/30/2016: Arkansas 75, Texas Tech 68 (OT); Fayetteville, Arkansas
12/03/2014: Texas Tech 46, Auburn 44; Lubbock, Texas
11/14/2013: Alabama 76, Texas Tech 64; Tuscaloosa, Alabama
SERIES HISTORY: Texas Tech and LSU will be meeting for the eighth time, dating back to the first matchup in 1957 and the most recent in 2017. Tech owns a 4-3 advantage in the all-time series. The Red Raiders earned a 77-64 victory in Lubbock on Jan. 28, 2017 during Beard's first season in the Big 12/SEC Challenge which snapped a three-game losing streak to the Tigers. Tech earned a 79-72 victory on Dec. 16, 1957 in Baton Rouge in the first matchup between the two programs. Tech is 2-1 all-time in Baton Rouge. Beard is 4-1 against the SEC.
UP NEXT: Texas Tech will play in its second straight ESPN Big Monday when it returns to Lubbock to host No. 24 Oklahoma (10-4, 6-3 Big 12) at 8 p.m. at the United Supermarkets Arena. The Red Raiders earned a 69-67 win over the Sooners on Dec. 22 in the first matchup between the two teams this season. OU entered the national rankings for the first time this season on Monday and then went out and earned an 80-79 win at No. 5 Texas on Tuesday night for its fourth straight win. The Sooners will host No. 9 Alabama at 11 a.m. on Saturday in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge before traveling to Lubbock.
No. 10 Texas Tech at LSU | 1 p.m., Saturday | TV: ESPN2 | Maravich Center – Baton Rouge, Louisiana
January 28, 2021
RED RAIDER PREVIEW: at LSU - Texas Tech Red Raiders
No. 10 Texas Tech is set to take on LSU at 1 p.m. on Saturday at the Maravich Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana as part of the eighth annual SEC/Big 12 Challe...
LUBBOCK, Texas – No. 10 Texas Tech is set to take on LSU at 1 p.m. on Saturday at the Maravich Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana as part of the eighth annual SEC/Big 12 Challenge. The Red Raiders are 4-3 in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge, including going 3-1 under head coach Chris Beard in the matchups.
Tech (11-5, 4-4 Big 12) is coming off an 88-87 loss at No. 11 West Virginia on Monday, while LSU (11-4, 6-3 SEC) snapped a two-game losing streak with a 78-66 win over Texas A&M on Tuesday where it scored the final 18 points of the game. Texas Tech is 4-3 all-time against LSU with the last matchup coming in the 2017 SEC/Big 12 Challenge and the Red Raiders earning a 77-64 win in Lubbock.
Mac McClung scored a season-high 30 points at WVU and is averaging 25.3 points per game in the last three games after also scoring 24 against No. 2 Baylor and 22 points in the win at No. 5 Texas. McClung leads the Big 12 by averaging 21.0 points per game in conference play and is second overall by averaging 17.2 points per game for the season. He is 10-for-21 on 3-pointers and 16-for-19 from the free-throw line in the past three games. Terrence Shannon, Jr. had 15 points and eight rebounds at WVU and is now averaging 12.9 points and 5.2 rebounds for the season, while Kevin McCullar is third in the Big 12 with 8.0 rebounds per game in conference play. Shannon was named one of 10 finalists for the Julius Erving Award on Wednesday. McCullar had eight rebounds at WVU and is now averaging 9.9 points and 7.3 rebounds per game this season. Kyler Edwards comes into the matchup at LSU leading the team with 39 assists and is averaging 10.0 points per game, while Marcus Santos-Silva is at 8.9 points, 6.1 rebounds and 1.2 blocks per game. McClung has scored 985 points in his career and Santos-Silva has 970 as they approach the 1,000-point milestone.
LSU is averaging 83.7 points per game and will face a Red Raider team that is 15th nationally by limiting teams to only 61.7 points per game. Tech has held 12 of 16 opponents under 70. Cameron Thomas leads the Tigers with 22.1 points per game after going off for 28 against the Aggies, while Trendon Watford is scoring 18.3 points per and Javonte Smart is at 14.6. Darius Days leads LSU with 7.8 rebounds per game and is also in double-figure scoring at 12.2 ppg. A 6-foot-4 freshman from Chesapeake, Virginia, Thomas is the leading scorer among all freshmen in the NCAA with his 22.1 points per game and is among the Top 10 candidates for the 2021 Jerry West Shooting Guard of the Year Award. Oklahoma State's Cade Cunningham is second for freshmen at 17.8 ppg. The Tigers are currently 8-1 on their home court this season under head coach Will Wade.
MEDIA: The game will be televised on ESPN2 with Tom Hart and Dane Bradshaw on the call, while on the radio Geoff Haxton and Chris Level will broadcast the game locally on Double T 97.3 and on the Texas Tech Sports Network.
RANKINGS: Texas Tech is back in the top-10 for the third season in five years under Beard after breaking into the AP and USA TODAY Coaches Poll on Monday. The Red Raiders began this season at No. 14 in the AP Preseason Poll and have been ranked throughout. The team is currently at No. 14 in the NET Rankings and No. 12 on KenPom.com.
STAT RANKINGS: The Red Raiders matched a Big 12 single-game record with only two turnovers at West Virginia and now lead the Big 12 with a 6.7 turnover margin advantage and are second with only 10.9 turnovers per game. Nationally, the turnover margin ranks fourth throughout all of college basketball and Tech is also fifth with 283 made free throws and 394 total attempts from the line. The Red Raiders are 15th in the NCAA by forcing 17.6 turnovers per game and by limiting opponents to only 61.7 points per game. Individually, McClung leads the Big 12 with 275 total points and is second in the conference at 17.2 points per game. Santos-Silva is third in the Big 12 with 19 total blocks and 2.81 offensive rebounds per game, while Edwards and McClung are tied for sixth with 29 total 3-pointers made.
BIG 12/SEC CHALLENGE: The eighth annual event will consist of 10 games as every Big 12 member faces 10 squads from the Southeastern Conference. The Red Raiders are 4-3 overall in the challenge, including going 3-1 under Beard in the matchups. Tech has also played South Carolina, Auburn, Alabama and Arkansas twice in the challenge. This will mark the sixth consecutive year for all games to be played in one day and includes matchups of: Auburn at Baylor, Iowa State at Mississippi State, Kansas at Tennessee, Texas A&M at Kansas State, Alabama at Oklahoma, Arkansas at Oklahoma State, TCU at Missouri, Texas at Kentucky and Florida at West Virginia. Big 12 teams are 40-30 (.571) in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge after a tie in 2020.
Texas Tech – SEC/Big 12 Challenge History
Date, Matchup; Location
01/25/2020: Kentucky 76, Texas Tech 74 (OT); Lubbock, Texas
01/26/2019: Texas Tech 67, Arkansas 64; Lubbock, Texas
01/27/2018: Texas Tech 70, South Carolina 63; Columbia, South Carolina
01/28/2017: Texas Tech 77, LSU 64; Lubbock, Texas
01/30/2016: Arkansas 75, Texas Tech 68 (OT); Fayetteville, Arkansas
12/03/2014: Texas Tech 46, Auburn 44; Lubbock, Texas
11/14/2013: Alabama 76, Texas Tech 64; Tuscaloosa, Alabama
SERIES HISTORY: Texas Tech and LSU will be meeting for the eighth time, dating back to the first matchup in 1957 and the most recent in 2017. Tech owns a 4-3 advantage in the all-time series. The Red Raiders earned a 77-64 victory in Lubbock on Jan. 28, 2017 during Beard's first season in the Big 12/SEC Challenge which snapped a three-game losing streak to the Tigers. Tech earned a 79-72 victory on Dec. 16, 1957 in Baton Rouge in the first matchup between the two programs. Tech is 2-1 all-time in Baton Rouge. Beard is 4-1 against the SEC.
UP NEXT: Texas Tech will play in its second straight ESPN Big Monday when it returns to Lubbock to host No. 24 Oklahoma (10-4, 6-3 Big 12) at 8 p.m. at the United Supermarkets Arena. The Red Raiders earned a 69-67 win over the Sooners on Dec. 22 in the first matchup between the two teams this season. OU entered the national rankings for the first time this season on Monday and then went out and earned an 80-79 win at No. 5 Texas on Tuesday night for its fourth straight win. The Sooners will host No. 9 Alabama at 11 a.m. on Saturday in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge before traveling to Lubbock.
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