Game Preview | McNeese St. Cowboys vs. Texas Tech Red Raiders

GAME INFORMATION
	vs
NcNeese St. Cowboys (5-3, 0-0)		Texas Tech Red Raiders (5-1, 0-0)
December 16, 2012 @ 5:00 pm
United Spirit Arena | Lubbock, TX
TV: FOX Sports SW | Radio: Affiliates | GameCast: FoxSports
Probable Starters
Dontae Cannon (6-1/168)	PG	Josh Gray (6-1/175)
Jeremie Mitchell (6-3/180)	SG	Trency Jackson (6-2/185)
Kevin Hardy (6-2/180)	TG	Jamal Williams, Jr. (6-4/190)
Desharick Guidry (6-5/200)	PF	Jordan Tolbert (6-7/225)
Austin Lewis (6-8/215)	C	Dejan Kravic (6-11/240)

SCOUTING THE COWBOYS

A very balanced team and a 6-5 guy, Guidry, who is almost averaging a double-double. As I am writing this, which is eight days before the game, because that's how I roll, Guidry has had 3 straight double-double games and the Cowboys have pulled themselves up after a somewhat rough start. Tolbert and Crockett will have their hands full because I think they struggle more with smaller and more athletic players.

McNeese St. has four players that average in double-figures in Cannon, Mitchell, Hardy and Guidry. Also interesting that the Cowboys have two quasi point guards in that Cannon and Hardy both average almost four assists a game. The only real threat off the bench is Adrian Fields (6-5/197) who averages about 6 points a game and 3 boards. Not a lot of height off the bench either, only two 6-7 forwards.

McNeese St. has lost to LSU by 36, SE Missouri St. by 9 and Ole Miss by 26, but have recent wins 30 points wins against Centenary and UT-Tyler. MSU's strength of schedule is significantly better than Texas Tech

KEYS TO SUCCESS

The team must get off to a quick start. After a ten day layoff or so, the team needs to get off to a quick start. Texas Tech will probably going to be a bit lackluster after so much time off and it may take a bit to get back into the swing of things.

The best way to get on track quickly is to run and to get the ball inside. Nothing would make me happier than to see Tolbert and Kravic start things off down low. The team worked on the half-court offense against Northern Kentucky and I'd expect to see a bit more of that.

I really need to point you to a terrific site that has a ton of interesting information: Hoop-Math. For example, Josh Gray and Trency Jackson are taking almost 50% of their shots at the rim. That's tremendous improvement for Texas Tech in that Texas Tech could hardly get any good shots with their guards at the rim last year. Jackson is having trouble finishing at the rim, but I still think that's a good thing and this is something that I think Williams and Robinson could take note of, which is to take the ball to the rack a bit more and get that free throw rate up. If you're in to basketball, this is a terrific reference and has a ton of great information.

GAME DAY LINKS

Texas Tech Hosts McNeese State On Sunday At 5 P.M. - Texas Tech Red Raiders Official Athletic Site

After long layoff, Tech faces challenging slate of non-conference games | Red Raiders

Men's Basketball - Cowboys continue tough road slate on Sunday at Texas Tech on FSSW