Red Raiders look to make it 2-0 against Mississippi Valley State

The Texas Tech Red Raiders look to make it 2-0 on the season with a win over the Mississippi Valley State Devils tonight at the United Supermarkets Arena. The Red Raiders are coming off of a 50 point win over the Incarnate Word Cardinals Tuesday night in Lubbock.

The Devils are coming off a huge loss to Nebraska where they were never able to get going on either side of the ball. The final score of that one was 106-37, the Cornhuskers got going early and never looked back. The Devils also lost both of their exhibition games, one by scores of 87-85 to NAIA Tougaloo College, and 70-67 to Division 2 Delta State.

MVSU is led by Head Coach Andre Payne, who has been the head of the program since 2014. He has a very experienced team this season, something the Red Raiders might need to look out for. Coach Payne’s team will shoot the ball a lot, albeit with little success. Here are some of the player from MSVU’s team to look out for:

No. 1 Dante Scott: 6’4” Senior Forward

Scott is the best offensive player on this team. Originally signed with Memphis and played sparingly for a year before transferring to MVSU. He can shoot the ball from anywhere and will take tons of shots, as he took 23 in the loss to Nebraska. He can also get streaky if you let him, as he dropped 28 in the Devil’s first exhibition game of the season. Jarrett Culver and Brandone Francis will most likely get the matchup on him to start the game tonight.

No. 3 Jordan Evans: 6’2” Senior Guard

Evans has been a constant mainstay at guard throughout the last season. Transferring from Western Texas College in 2017, Evans made his way into the starting lineup early in the season and stayed there throughout the season. He averaged 14.7 points in 30 minutes per game last season, leading the team in both categories. He had 12 points and 6 boards in the season opener earlier this week. He plays mostly shooting guard and Matt Mooney will have the first crack at him with backup Kyler Edwards most likely guarding him when he comes off the bench.

No. 11 Marcus Mitchell: 6’7” Junior Forward

Mitchell is a bit of an unknown going into the game tonight. He comes from Columbia State Community College and has immediately been placed into the starting lineup coming into the season. He has good size, and can shoot, as he made the team’s only three pointer of the game against Nebraska. He will most likely draw freak big man Tariq Owens at the beginning of the game but Jarrett Culver and Brandone Francis will most likely get some time against him as well.

This team is not very good, to be quite frank. The Red Raiders have every advantage against them, but the game must still be played. Look for bench players to have a huge impact in this game as the game could be easily put away in the first half by our starters. Guys like Malik Ondigo, Avery Benson, and Deshawn Corprew could easily get 20 plus minutes and lead the team in scoring. Our starters will still likely get about 20 minutes, but if they do their job, we may not seem them much in the second half.