| INFORMATION: | Detail |
| OPPONENT: | Washington Huskies (5-0, 0-0) |
| LOCATION: | United Spirit Arena :: Lubbock, Texas |
| DATE: | December 3, 2009 |
| TIME: | 6:00 p.m. CST |
| TV: | ESPN2 |
| RADIO: | Affiliates |
| GAME CAST: | Fox Sports |
Game Day Stat:
Washington: This Husky team is a well-rounded group. KenPom stats have the Huskies at 25th in the nation in adjusted offense and 36th in the nation in adjusted defense. Just like Texas Tech, the Huskies haven't played any name opponents, but that's what the month of December is for and this will be Washington's first road test this year.
Texas Tech: This team is really improving defensively. I wish that KenPom had historical rankings during a season, but right now the Red Raiders are 26th in the nation in adjusted defensive efficiency. That's pretty good. The offense is still lagging behind a bit, but I cannot recall a time last year when the defense was even ranked in the top 50 last year.
Players Focus:
Washington: The Huskies have two 20 points scorers and it would be unfair to not spotlight both of them. Quincy Pondexter and Isaiah Thomas have been unbelievable thus far. Pondexter (6-6/215) is averaging 20.66 PPG; 11 RPG; and 2.0 APG. Thomas (5-8/185) is also scoring 20.6 PPG; 3.8 RPG; and 1.6 APG. This should be fascinating matchups with SF Mike Singletary on Pondexter and PG John Roberson on Thomas.
Texas Tech: SG David Tairu has had a very up-and-down season, especially in the points department. Tairu started very quickly, scoring 17 points in is first game, but followed that with 6, 19, 10, 2, 8 and 15. There's really not much consistency there and I think it will be interesting to see where Tairu eventually fits with this team in the long run.
Needs Repair
Washington: I'd really like to find something to point to with the Huskies, but thus far this team has been really good on just about every statistical category. Not necessarily dominant, but rather really good at just about everything. If you could criticize the Huskies, it would be that the team relies on only 2 players, but that's quite a stretch. And this isn't me saying that the Red Raiders don't have a chance. Washington hasn't played any top 50 RPI teams thus far and as mentioned above, just about every game has been at home. This will be the first road test for Washington
Texas Tech: I still hate the fact that this team can't seem to get out of it's own way in terms of turnovers. Right now, the biggest culprit is Singletary, who is averaging 3.42 turnovers per game. That's got to slow down, otherwise you could see Pat Knight make a change at the small forward position, especially if Singletary is a liability to turn the ball over late in games.