Game Details:
Date: Saturday, February 14th
Time: 7:00 pm
Good Guys: Texas Tech Red Raiders (12-13, 2-10)
Bad Guys: Texas Longhorns (16-8, 5-6)
Location: Erwin Center | Austin, TX
TV/Stream: LHN
Radio/Stream: Broadcast Affiliates and TuneIn App
Starting Lineup
Pts / Reb | Pts / Reb | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
POINT GUARD | Robert Turner (6-3/190) | 8.8 / 1.7* | Kendal Yancy (6-3/200) | 4.8 / 1.6* |
SHOOTING GUARD | Devaugntah Williams (6-4/205) | 10.5 / 3.2 | Isaiah Taylor (6-1/170) | 14.0 / 4.2* |
SMALL FORWARD | Toddrick Gotcher (6-4/200) | 6.6 / 2.4 | Demarcus Holland (6-2/190) | 7.0 / 3.5 |
POWER FORWARD | Zach Smith (6-8/205) | 5.5 / 5.0 | Myles Turner (6-11/240) | 10.8 / 6.3 |
CENTER | Norense Odiase (6-9/270) | 6.25 / 4.5 | Cameron Ridley (6-8/285) | 8.9 / 5.2 |
* Assists.
Three Keys to the Game:
1. Scouting the Longhorns. I thought for sure that I had the Longhorns pegged as a contender for the conference title. An incredibly talented big-man in Turner, a scoring guard in Taylor, a glue-guy like Holland and Ridley. What could go wrong? Well, prior to their last two games, where they beat TCU and Kansas State, Texas lost four in a row, Kansas, Iowa State, Baylor and Oklahoma State. Not easy teams by any means, but four games is a long time for this talented team to not notch a victory. Iowa State and Oklahoma State were close losses, but losses nonetheless. Texas is as talented a team in the Big 12, at least as far as I can tell, and other than having some size in the backcourt, they're as good as any on paper.
2. Stats. I may be the only one that thinks this, but I am surprised that a lot of the stats that have started the year continue, the high number of free throws and high turnover rate, although Texas is not good at holding onto the ball either as they are just a percentage point apart. With the length that UT has up front, I'm not at all surprised at the higher shooting and offensive rebound percentages.
Despite the losses, UT is still a top 20 team according to KenPom, #20 actually. They are also the 44th best team in AdjO and 22nd best team in AdjD. I'm surprised that those stats are still high for them. Texas Tech sits at 176th overall, 271st in AdjO and 99th in AdjD.
*AdjO and AdjD via KenPom.
3. Matching Up. I could certainly see a change in the starting lineup if Barnes is going to roll out Turner and Ridley. Turner is way too big for Smith, it's really not even fair that they play the same position in college. And Turner is really good and he would abuse Smith in the post. Tubby Smith could pull his own tricks here and choose to start Zach at the small forward and try to take advantage of the match-up with Holland, but Holland can get hot from the outside and guarding the perimeter isn't Zach's strength. And don't forget that Texas has Jonathan Holmes coming off the bench and he's 6-8/240, as well as Connor Lammert and he's 6-9/240. So, despite Texas Tech having some decent size, Texas has a lot more and I'll be interested to see how Tubby Smith handles that size. The key for Texas Tech is the same as it ever was, Williams, Gotcher and Turner need to hit from the outside.