Game Preview | Grambling St. Tigers vs. Texas Tech Red Raiders

GAME INFORMATION
	vs
Grambling St. Tigers (0-3, 0-0)		Texas Tech Red Raiders (2-0, 0-0)
November 20, 2012 @ 8:00 pm
United Spirit Arena | Lubbock, TX
TV: FSSW or FSSW+ | Radio: Affiliates | GameCast: FoxSports
Probable Starters
Derron Hobbs (6-0/170)	PG	Josh Gray (6-1/175)
Terry Rose (6-4/195)	SG	Trency Jackson (6-2/185)
Roman Higgins (6-4/200)	TG	Jamal Williams, Jr. (6-4/190)
David Copeland (6-0/190)	PF	Jordan Tolbert (6-7/225)
Steven Dandridge (6-8/260)	C	Dejan Kravic (6-11/240)

SCOUTING THE TIGERS

Eh . . . the Tigers are having a rough go at it thus far, losing to Cleveland St., Ball St., Miami (OH) and Houston. And they are losing by an average of 30 points a game. Their best player is Terry Rose who is averaging 19 points a game, but he's a black hole in terms of never passing to teammates. He's averaging just 0.6 assist per game, so once he gets the ball, he's going to shoot the ball. He's shooting 40% so he's not bad, but no one else on the team averages in double figures. The other handful of significant players are Hobbs, who is the point guard of the group, is averaging 6 points a game and 4 assists, and the aforementioned Higgins and Hornsby who are averaging just a shade over 5 points a game. Grambling St. is not a good team, not by any measure from all accounts. They aren't a good rebounding team and they aren't a good free throw shooting team.

KEY TO SUCCESS

After seeing this team live for the first time last week, I think I'm pretty comfortable with this team beating GSU. I'm not going to be able to type these sorts of things into December, but I'm pretty comfortable here. GSU is starting 4 guards and they only have two players that are taller than 6-8 and one of them starts. Texas Tech is not a wealth of height, but they do have four players that are taller than 6-7. I'd also add that GSU is averaging 22 turnovers a game and Texas Tech should probably feast on the Tigers inability to hold onto the ball.

And I'd also like to highlight Coach Walker's quotes about Gray from the LAJ article and his progression from the summer to now:

“From where he was when he came here in the summer to now,” Walker said of Gray, “it’s like light years. We come from a “Me” culture in basketball, where AAU and high school is centered on the best player. When you come to a place where everybody is recruited and everybody is good, and he’s in a situation where he has to blend his talents in, that’s hard for a kid to learn, especially if he’s highly recruited by a bunch of schools. I think Josh has a great attitude, and he’s gotten exponentially better.”

And from Gray from the DT article:

“Coach Walker puts a lot in,” Gray said. “The main part is he makes us feel like family. We can talk to him about stuff going on at home. It’s not just about basketball. That’s why we listen and buy in. We really respect him.”

I don't know if they totally buy into everything about Walker but he is constantly talking about how he tries to treat players.

GAME DAY LINKS

Red Raiders Host Grambling State Tonight At United Spirit Arena - Texas Tech Red Raiders Official Athletic Site
Walker pleased with young point guard's progress | Red Raiders
Tech men’s basketball looking to go 3-0 - The Daily Toreador: Sports