Preview: Texas Tech v. Baylor

Texas Tech faces off against the Baylor Bears at 3:00 p.m. Saturday. The game can be seen on ESPN Full Court and will be telecast in the DFW area on Channel 21.

I've got two small points about Baylor. I know that compliments don't go as far as victories do, but you have to commend Scott Drew for the job he's done at Baylor. Rebuilding that program would have been pretty tough, but he's recruited some talented players and I don't think that Baylor is too far off from being a contender.

One other note, freshman guard Tweety Carter, an all-American from Reserve (La.) Christian School scored 7,457 points in his high school career. For those of you who aren't going to grab a calculator, if you divide that number by 6 years of high school (he started playing high school basketball in the 7th grade) and then divide that number by 40 games, that's an average of 31 points per game. Amazing.

Let's break down the game.

The Numbers:

Players to Watch:

Keys to the Game:

1. Contain Rogers: Kevin Rogers has been Baylor's most consistent player this year and despite losses at OSU and A&M he's showed up every night. OSU and A&M have fairly talented frontcourt players which forces Rogers to play defense. Against Tech there really isn't that dominant low post player. That's not to say that Rogers will take the night off, but I think that he'll certainly get his average on Saturday. Tech has to make sure and contain Rogers, and just like Knight continues to preach, keep blocking out.
2. Keep Diene Off the Floor: Diene is one of those types of players who has real potential, but just hasn't figured it out yet. He started off the year playing 20 to 25 minutes a game, but as conference play has started his minutes have dwindled. It would be great for Tech if he stayed on the bench, since the loss of Rizvic means that Tech really doesn't have anyone to match-up with him.
3. Keep Bruce, Jerrells and Dugat in Check: Dugat is actually shooting 50% from the field, which is impressive for a guard, but Jerrells and Bruce are both shooting 40% and Bruce especially has struggled from the field recently. In Bruce's last 3 games he's had 3 points against Centenary, 7 points against OSU and 2 points against A&M. It would be nice if he stayed in that funk for the time being. Dugat can be the most explosive, but I'd really like to see Tech maintain their pressure on the perimeter, it's worked really well the past 3 or 4 games.