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THE INFORMATION
| Game Details | |
|---|---|
| TEAMS |
 Texas Tech Red Raiders (10-8, 2-3)  West Virginia Mountaineers (10-8, 2-3) |
| WHERE | WVU Coliseum | Morgantown, West Virginia |
| WHEN | 7:00 pm Wednesday January 22nd |
| CONSUME | Radio - TTSN | TV - Big 12 Network |
THE CHARACTERS
| Starters | ||
|---|---|---|
| Texas Tech | West Virginia | |
| Robert Turner (6-3/180) | PG | Juwan Staten (6-1/190) |
| Toddrick Gotcher (6-4/195) | SG | Eron Harris (6-3/195) |
| Jaye Crockett (6-7/210) | SF | Terry Henderson (6-4/200) |
| Jordan Tolbert (6-7/225) | PF | Devin Williams (6-9/255) |
| Dejan Kravic (7-0/235) | C | Kevin Noreen (6-9/250) |
THE ANALYSIS
Key Matchup | Staten vs. Turner: I had Staten and Turner the last time and it was completely one-sided in favor of Staten. Turner couldn’t get going offensively, shooting only 1 of 7 from the floor and wasn’t as effective as he has been over the course of the past two games. Texas Tech wins this game if Turner can stop Staten just a little bit and actually put the ball in the basket. Turner will have his hands full, but Turner has to even up this match-up.
Take Aim: What if I told you that Texas Tech and West Virginia were within eight spots of the KenPom Rankings, would you high five your neighbor? I would and it’s pretty great to think how far this team has come since conference play started. WVU is 40th in AdjO and 144th in AdjD, while Texas Tech is 40th in AdjO and 167th in AdjD. Pretty close, right?
This team is getting better right before your eyes. West Virginia out-lasted Texas Tech in overtime in Lubbock and Staten just lit up Texas Tech, shooting 10 of 12 from the floor and scoring 25 points. Truthfully, all of the guards for West Virginia were pretty good with Harris scoring 18 and Henderson scoring 16. This is going to be the key tonight, stopping the West Virginia guards.
And Texas Tech needs to win the frontcourt matchup, up and down that line. WVU’s big’s aren’t anything special and Texas Tech could really take advantage of WVU by getting Tolbert, Crockett and Kravic going inside.
Game Day Links:
The official site has your official preview (via TexasTech).
A WVU beat writer writes about how Tubby Smith is good for Texas Tech, but he gets one pretty important detail incorrect (at least when I am writing this) which is that he writes that Chris Walker is Smith's top assistant and that's just not accurate (via CharlestonDailyMail). I think Smith's top assistant is Pooh Richardson.
We get a bit about how Tubby Smith is pulling Texas Tech back together after a rough start (via SAEN).
Texas Tech are on opposite paths and one school looks to continue their winning streak, Texas Tech, and one looks to end a losing streak, West Virginia (via LAJ and Daily Ahtenaeum).
I really don't recall why I've never really liked Mac Engel, usually it is poor logic I think, writes that Texas Tech is finally out of Bob Knight's shadow (via FWST). I wouldn't call what has happened Bob Knight's shadow, he doesn't loom over the program. Bob Knight was the best coach who ever coached at Texas Tech, but when Pat took over, most likely at the hand of RMK and Myers, it ruined this program for years. It finally feels like Texas Tech is finally climbing out of that wreckage.
This was tweeted out by Don Williams, but I forgot to save the tweet (via AJ_DonWilliams) was a pretty good article on former Red Raider, Cory Carr, who was at Texas Tech when I was in school and he now plays in Israel and is now an Israeli citizen (via TimesofIsrael).