Game Preview | Northern Kentucky Norsemen vs. Texas Tech Red Raiders

Previewing tonight's game as Texas Tech hosts the Northern Kentucky Norsemen.

By Seth C Dec 4, 2012, 8:02am CST

GAME INFORMATION
	vs
Northern Kentucky Norsemen (0-5, 0-0)		Texas Tech Red Raiders (4-1, 0-0)
December 4, 2012 @ 6:00 pm
United Spirit Arena \| Lubbock, TX
TV: FSSW or FSSW+ \| Radio: Affiliates \| GameCast: FoxSports
Probable Starters
Ethan Faulkner (6-1/185)	PG	Josh Gray (6-1/175)
Chad Jackson (6-4/195)	SG	Trency Jackson (6-2/185)
Eshaunte Jones (6-4/200)	TG	Jamal Williams, Jr. (6-4/190)
Ernest Watson (6-7/190)	PF	Jordan Tolbert (6-7/225)
Jalen Billups (6-6/225)	C	Dejan Kravic (6-11/240)

SCOUTING THE NORSEMEN

What a great logo and what a great nickname. The Norsemen!

The Norsemen may have a 0-5 record, but they have had some close games. This is one of those situations where statistically, the Norsemen are a bad team, but they were within 20 points against Tulsa and only lost to Sienna by 4. I have no idea how good Tulsa and Sienna are, but Texas Tech is probably pretty close to those teams on some level. Maybe moreso Tulsa that Sienna, but you get the idea.

Jones is their leading scorer and he's the only player averaging in double-figures. That's always a problem. The interesting thing about Jones is that he originally committed to Oregon St., decommitted from the Bears and then ended up committing to Indiana. Yes, that Indiana. He bounced around a bit and ended up at Hargrave and then committed to Nebraska and played there for a year. He apparently didn't make it long at Nebraska and ended up at Northern Kentucky.

The Norsemen are even smaller than Texas Tech, which is the way it should be and do not have a strong rebounding team, even in comparison to Texas Tech. They are not a good shooting team either and they don't get to the line.

KEYS TO SUCCESS

Texas Tech has to do what they do on this game, which is press, force the issue and simply out-talent the opponent. Northern Kentucky isn't a good team and every game except for the Arizona game has been about what Texas Tech is. It is incredibly difficult to judge the type of talent that Texas Tech has with most of these non-conference games. The only thing that I think I believe is that Texas Tech needs to continue to win the games that they should and play their rears off against Alabama and Arizona St. As much of a talent disparity there was between Arizona and Texas Tech, the same disparity exists between Texas Tech and Northern Kentucky.