Red Raiders looking to remain perfect at home in conference play as they welcome West Virginia to the USA

Matchup: West Virginia Mountaineers 13-4 (2-3) at #18 Texas Tech Red Raiders 14-4 (4-2)

Where to Watch: ESPN2 11am CT

Moneyline: Texas Tech -9 O/U 128.5

After avenging their loss to Iowa State, Texas Tech is back on the winning track as they welcome the West Virginia Mountaineers to Lubbock on Saturday at 11am CT. The Mountaineers are 2-3 in the conference with wins against the likes of Connecticut, Kansas State and Oklahoma State with their conference losses coming against Texas, Baylor and Kansas.

Against formidable opponents this season, the Mountaineers seem to either lose convincingly or win close. This team is shaping up to be one of those teams with a middle of the pack conference record that will probably end up with an 8-10 seed in the NCAA tournament. Their non-conference schedule besides the UConn game isn’t much to write home about, but the fact that they won that game should keep them safe when it comes to their resume.

After starting off the conference schedule with the loss to Texas, the Mountaineers rattled off two wins in a row before riding their two game losing streak into Lubbock. The key to this game will be containing Taz Sherman and Sean McNeil. Both of the Seniors are dangerous scorers with McNeil being the better three point shooter and Sherman being able to get to the hoop as well as his some mid-range or three pointers. Shutting these two down and forcing the scoring to come elsewhere will be the key to keeping them in the 50’s as far as scoring goes.

The way that Tech has been playing on offense recently has been good to see (besides the Kansas State game). TJ Shannon could have himself a big game if he’s finally back to around 100%. If he’s still not at his best, I think that Kevin Obanor should be able to dominate a game like this both from the paint as well as shooting the ball. Every game during conference play it feels like someone new is stepping up for us, and this game should be Obanors opportunity to carry this team to a win.

I predict this final score being a gritty 68-57 win, with the Red Raiders being able to pull away late with some big shots from Shannon and Obanor. This spread is pretty dangerous, but I still like the guys to cover this one.