RED RAIDER PREVIEW: at No. 3 Baylor
The Red Raiders (17-8, 9-7 Big 12) have reeled off three straight home wins over Iowa State, TCU and No. 14 Texas over the span of five days coming into the regular-season finale, while the Bears (20-1, 12-1 Big 12) have won two in a row with wins over West Virginia and Oklahoma State after suffering its season’s only defeat at Kansas last Saturday. Both teams played on Thursday night with Tech earning an 81-54 win over Iowa State and BU taking an 81-70 decision over OSU.
Mac McClung is coming off a 20-point performance in the win over the Cyclones where the Red Raiders earned a 27-point victory with a season-best 61.7 shooting percentage and going 18-for-25 at the free-throw line. Five players scored in double figures with Marcus Santos-Silva scoring 14 points to go along with seven rebounds and two blocks, while Terrence Shannon, Jr. and Micah Peavy scored 12 points each and Kyler Edwards added 11 points and three steals. McClung recorded his 10th game of 20 or more points for the season and is now averaging 16.4 points for the season and 17.6 through 16 conference games. During the three-game winning streak Edwards is leading the team with 13.7 points and 3.0 assists per game, while the team’s defense has limited its opponents to 34.6 percent shooting and only 54.0 points per game. Tech is led by head coach Chris Beard who is 111-52 in his five seasons.
Tech’s season includes earning its first top-5 road win in program history by knocking off then-No. 4 Texas with a 79-77 victory on Jan. 13 in Austin. The Red Raiders are 4-3 in Big 12 road games while Baylor is looking to complete a perfect season inside the Ferrell Center where it is currently 10-0 (5-0 Big 12). The Bears clinched the 2021 Big 12 regular-season championship with their overtime win over West Virginia last Tuesday in Morgantown, West Virginia.
SERIES NOTES: TTU has lost three in a row against Baylor and four straight in Waco in the series. BU won 68-60 in the first matchup between the two teams on Jan. 16 in Lubbock with McClung leading Tech with 24 points and Kevin McCullar recording a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds. The Red Raiders own an 80-61 advantage in the all-time series that dates back to 1937, but are only 29-37 in Waco with their last win at the Ferrell Center coming with an 84-66 victory on Feb. 13, 2016. Beard is 3-6 against Baylor and is looking for his win in Waco as Tech’s head coach.
STATISTICAL NOTES: Texas Tech comes into the regular-season finale sixth in the nation with a 5.0 turnover margin advantage and leading the Big 12 by limiting opponents to only 62.3 points per game. The Red Raiders have held 12 opponents to under 60 points this season (three straight), including in the 68-59 win last Saturday over Texas. The team has also held 12 opponents under 40 percent shooting with Iowa State shooting just 31.0 percent on Thursday night. TTU is currently limiting teams to 40.4 percent shooting which leads the Big 12. Tech is 29th nationally with only 11.0 turnovers per game. Baylor leads the Big 12 with only 10.6 turnovers per game, 18.1 turnovers forced, a 6.0 turnover margin advantage, shooting 42.0 percent on 3-pointers and with 17.4 assists per game.
MEDIA: The game will be featured on ESPN with Bob Wischusen and Dick Vitale on the call, while Geoff Haxton and Chris Level will broadcast locally on Double T 97.3 and the Texas Tech Sports Network.
RED RAIDER REPORT: McClung leads the Red Raiders this season by scoring 16.3 points per game overall and 17.6 per Big 12 game after going for 20 points in the win over Iowa State. He led Tech with 24 points in the first matchup against Baylor with four 3-pointers and going 4-for-4 at the free-throw line. McClung, who led Tech with six assists to match his season-high in assists in the Tuesday night win over TCU, has now had 10 games of 20 or more this season. He scored 16 in the win over Texas to help begin the three-game winning streak after going for 17 points at Oklahoma State and is averaging 13.6 ppg. in the last five game. He was named the Big 12 Newcomer of the Week on Feb. 1 to honor his performances at West Virginia and LSU and was also named the Big 12 Player of the Week on Jan. 18 following a game-winner at Texas after his 24 points against Baylor. A junior Gate City, Virginia who transferred from Georgetown this season, he went for a season-high 30 points at West Virginia and then had 22 in the road win at LSU. For the season, McClung has made 42 3-pointers which is second on the team. He’s also 101-for-124 at the free-throw line (81.5 percent) after going 5-for-6 at the line against the Cyclones on Thursday. McClung reached 1,000 points in his career at LSU and comes into the matchup against Iowa State with 1,121 points through 75 games in his collegiate career. He scored a career-high 38 points as a freshman for the Hoyas against Little Rock on Dec. 12, 2018. In his season-high against WVU, McClung went 11-for-21 from the field with four 3-pointers. He has made two or more 3-pointers in 14 games this season, four 3-pointers in two games and has made five or more free throws in 11 games. He has led Tech in scoring in 13 games this season and now has 51 games in his career scoring in double digits.
Shannon finished with 12 points on 4-for-7 shooting in the win over Iowa State after scoring eight against TCU and 11 on Texas during the three-game winning streak. A sophomore from Chicago, he led Tech with 18 points at OSU where he made six shots and was 5-for-8 at the free-throw line. He was named one of five finalists for the Julius Erving Award. Dealing with an ankle issue, he was coming off scoring five points at KU after 13 points in the home loss to WVU and was limited to only 10 minutes of play in the second half at KSU with the injury where he scored only two points. He had led the team in scoring in the previous two games after scoring a season-high 23 in the win at LSU before going for 15 points against Oklahoma. He’s currently averaging 12.6 points and 3.9 rebounds in conference games and is at 12.5 points per game for the season. Shannon has scored in double-digits in 18 games and 20 or more in four games coming into the second matchup against the Bears. Against LSU he also added 10 rebounds to his 23-point performance for his first career double-double. He would score the final six points of the win, first on a layup off a steal to take a 72-71 lead before knocking down four free throws to ice the game. He’s currently 81-for-105 on free throws (77.1 percent) this season and is 168 of 210 (80.9 percent) for his career after going 4-for-6 on Thursday night against ISU. Shannon has scored 585 points, has 223 rebounds and 54 steals through 53 games of his career. He scored a career-high 24 points last season as a freshman at DePaul and also had a career-best 11 rebounds at Kansas last season. Shannon has made 20 3-pointers this season through 24 games played after having nine through 29 games as a freshman. He is a Julius Erving Award Finalist this season after being named to the Big 12 All-Freshman Team last year. Shannon has now scored in double digits in 18 games this season.
McCullar secured seven rebounds in the win over Iowa State after he had nine points and five rebounds against TCU. He started the three-game winning streak by going for 10 points, four steals, three assists and five rebounds in the win over Texas after a 12-point, seven-rebound output in the overtime loss at Oklahoma State four games ago. In the first matchup against Baylor, he recorded his second double-double of the season with 10 points and 10 rebounds. McCullar recorded his first career double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds in his fourth game back from a preseason injury. He is now averaging 10.0 points and 6.6 rebounds for the season. He has now had five or more rebounds in 13 of 16 games played this season, including five in a row. Leading the team with 1.7 steals per game, he had back-to-back four steal games against UT and OSU which matched a career high that he’s now had five times through 45 games in his career. A redshirt sophomore from San Antonio, McCullar missed the first nine games of the season due to an injury suffered in the preseason but emerged as one of the top players in the conference. He has three double-digit rebounding performances in his career after also having 11 rebounds last season at Iowa State. McCullar scored a career-high 16 points in the win at Texas where he was 6-for-7 from the field, including going 2-for-2 on 3-pointers. McCullar redshirted during the historic run to the 2019 NCAA Final Four before playing in 29 games last season. He has now scored 335 points, 62 steals and has 198 rebounds. He has recorded two or more steals in nine of 16 games played this season and also has 14 blocked shots.
Santos-Silva recorded 14 points, seven rebounds and two blocked shots in the win over Iowa State in Tech’s final home game. He had grabbed nine rebounds and 10 points in the win over Texas after he went for nine rebounds, eight points and three blocked shots in the overtime loss at OSU. He also produced 12 points and eight rebounds in the loss at KU where he reached the 1,000-point milestone in his career. He is now averaging 8.5 points and 6.5 rebounds per game. He leads the Red Raiders with 1.2 blocks per game (29 total) this season with nine in the past five games. He recorded a career-high five assists in the win at Kansas State and now has 32 assists for the season after his four against TCU on Tuesday night. Tech’s only senior, Santos-Silva is in his first season with the program after transferring from VCU. He comes into the second matchup against Baylor with 1,040 points in his career along with 782 rebounds and 121 blocks through 122 games. He has recorded two double-doubles this season with 10 points and 13 rebounds against Northwestern State before going for 12 points and 10 rebounds against Sam Houston State. He also had double-digit rebounding performances with the 11 rebounds against Baylor and then 12 rebounds against LSU in Baton Rouge. Santos-Silva scored a season-high 14 points in the first matchup against Kansas State and has 10 double-digit scoring games this season (six in-conference). At VCU, he had a pair of 26-point games highlighted by a 26-point, 22-rebound double-double against Rhode Island on March 15, 2019 and 16 double-doubles. He leads Tech with 29 blocks this season, including career-high performances with four blocks in games against Abilene Christian and the home game against Oklahoma State. He’s led the team in rebounding in 10 games and is averaging 7.8 rebounds in the past five games.
Edwards is averaging 13.7 points and 3.0 assists during the three-game winning streak. He scored 11 points in the win over ISU after going off for a season-high 20 points and four assists against TCU. He also had four assists against in the win over Texas to go along with 10 points. Against the Horned Frogs, he was 7-for-8 from the field and 4-for-5 from beyond the arc. He leads Tech with 46 3-pointers this season after going 3-for-4 in Thursday’s win over Iowa State. Edwards is now averaging 9.8 points, 4.6 rebounds and a team-leading 2.7 assists per game for the season. He filled the stat sheet with 11 points, seven rebounds and six assists against WVU after also producing a game at KSU with 13 points, eight rebounds, three assists and a steal. A junior from Arlington, Edwards has been a part of 66 wins through 94 games as a Red Raider that includes playing in all 38 games a freshman during the run to the 2019 NCAA Championship Final. Edwards scored a previous season-high 19 points in wins over Abilene Christian and Iowa State this season and has now scored 808 points in his career. He’s shooting 46-for-110 (41.8 percent) on 3-pointers this season and has made 125 3-pointers in his career. Edwards leads Tech with 67 assists this season, including a career-high seven assists in the opener against Northwestern State. He’s recorded 14 assists in the past five games and has recorded three or more assists in 13 games this season. Edwards, who has 24 steal this season and seven in the past five games, comes into the game against Baylor with 204 assists in his career and reached the 800-point milestone in the win over ISU in the last game.
Peavy is coming off his best scoring performance in conference play after recording 12 points on a 6-for-8 shooting night against Iowa State on Thursday. He also had four rebounds and led Tech with three assists in the win after he had matched a career-high with seven rebounds in the win over TCU where he also had seven points and two assists. Peavy is averaging 8.0 points and 5.3 rebounds per game during the three-game winning streak. He had recorded the career-high seven rebounds at Kansas five games ago and then had a performance against the Longhorns where he produced five points, four assists and five rebounds. He has started 24 of 25 games to begin his collegiate career where he is averaging 5.8 points and 3.2 rebounds per game. A true freshman who was the Texas Class 6A Player of the Year and a Class 6A State Champion at Duncanville HS, Peavy scored a season-high 14 points in the season opener against Northwestern State and had a previous conference-high of 10 points at Kansas in the Allen Fieldhouse to go along with his seven rebounds. Peavy, who had six points and five rebounds in the first matchup against Baylor, is shooting 47.1 percent from the field this season and has scored 145 points.
Tyreek Smith scored career-high nine points in the win over TCU where he was 4-for-4 from the field and also had six rebounds before having six rebounds and five points against ISU. He had a career-high eight rebounds in the win over Oklahoma at home before matching a career-high with three blocks at KSU where he also had five points. A redshirt freshman, Smith is averaging 2.7 points and 2.6 rebounds through 25 games after his career-best scoring performance on Tuesday night. Smith scored a previous career-high seven points in the non-conference wins over Northwestern State and Troy. Against Troy, he had a career-high three blocks that was matched at KSU. He’s second on the team with 21 blocks this season. Burton is averaging 4.7 points and 1.3 assists per game. He’s missed the past four games against OSU, UT, TCU and ISU with a toe injury and is listed as day-to-day. A junior from Charlotte, North Carolina who transferred from Wichita State, Burton has scored 628 points and has 256 assists through 88 games of his collegiate career. He scored a season-high 10 points in the win over Grambling in non-conference play and had a Big 12-best of nine at West Virginia where he was 4-for-7 from the field with one 3-pointer. Burton had a season-high five assists in the win over Northwestern State and has an 11-assist performance against Oklahoma State on his resume from Wichita State. Burton has made four starts and appeared in 17 games as a reserve this season.
Clarence Nadolny scored a season-high seven points against Oklahoma where he was 2-for-2 from the field, including hitting one of his four 3-pointers for the season. A sophomore from France, he had a season-best three assists at West Virginia in the first matchup where he played 17 minutes before scoring his seven points in 15 minutes against OU. He had a previous season-high of six points in the win over Corpus Christi and has a career-high of nine points last season against Houston Baptist as a freshman. He is currently 16 points away from 100 in his career after scoring two against TCU and three against ISU. Avery Benson is currently averaging 1.6 points and 1.0 rebound per game. A redshirt junior, Benson is the only player on the current roster who was with the program when it advanced to the 2018 Elite 8. He is currently 5-for-8 on 3-pointers this season after hitting one at OSU. Benson had a career-high 10 points and two blocked shots last season in the win over No. 1 Louisville at the 2019 Jimmy V Classic in New York. Chibuzo Agbo and Vladislav Goldin are true freshman along with Peavy and have had some strong moments in their first season at Tech. A San Diego native, Agbo is averaging 1.9 points per game after scoring a Big 12-best four points in the wins over TCU and Texas. In the win over the Longhorns last Saturday he made a layup and then two free throws in the final minute to help ice the game. He scored two points against ISU on Thursday night and his freshman resume also includes a season-high five points coming in the opener against Northwestern State. He had three points at West Virginia with a 3-pointer and also had two points at LSU. Agbo has hit six 3-pointers this season. Goldin is the tallest player on the roster at 7-foot-1 and is averaging 2.1 points and 1.1 rebounds per game through nine games played. A forward from Russia, Goldin scored a career-high six points against Grambling in non-conference play and also added four rebounds in the win. Goldin played one minute against UT after he had not played since the win at Iowa State on Jan. 9 in Ames. He entered the game on Tuesday against TCU upon fans chanting his name and scored two points and had one rebound in seven minutes of play.
SENIOR MOMENT: Tech head student manager Ty Larson played in the team’s final home game. Larson, who has been with the program for two years after playing at Eastern Wyoming College, took a charge in the final minute and became a viral sensation. He is now back to his full-time student manager position and will graduate in May. He plans on becoming a college basketball coach.
SECURING POSSESSION: Beard stresses a 10-or-less turnover game is one of the keys to victory in every game the Red Raiders play which the team has accomplished 12 times this season after having only nine in the win over TCU. The season has been highlighted by a two-turnover showing at West Virginia which matched the Big 12 single-game record. The Red Raiders are currently averaging only 11.1 turnovers per game which is the second in the Big 12 after having 14 against the Cyclones. In Big 12 play, Tech also had only seven turnovers at Texas and Kansas, nine in the win over Kansas State and 10 at Iowa State. The team is averaging only 10.7 turnovers per game in Big 12 play. Tech had only one turnover at halftime in Ames against ISU to get out to a 24-point lead in the first matchup. In non-conference play, Tech had only four turnovers against Corpus Christi which was the low in the Beard era before the two in Morgantown. During his five seasons, Tech has committed 10 or less turnovers 63 times under Beard. The program’s low turnover output was highlighted at the 2019 Final Four with only seven in a win over Michigan State and eight in the overtime loss to Virginia in the National Championship game. Tech currently has a 5.0 turnover margin advantage. The Red Raiders have drastically improved in the turnover category after committing 13.7 last season.
FORCING THE ISSUE: Texas Tech forced 30 turnovers against Grambling for the most since the 2009 season opener against South Dakota. Tech forced 15 turnovers against TCU and then 13 on ISU and has now had more turnovers than their opponent in only six of 25 games. The Red Raiders forced 16 against Baylor after 15 turnovers at Texas and Iowa State. Tech has recorded 13 steals in two games this season, against Grambling and Northwestern State before having eight at KSU. The 13 steals against Grambling and Northwestern State is the most steals in a game since a 15-steal game by the team against Rice on Dec. 16, 2017. Tech had nine steals against the Cyclones with Edwards having three and McClung coming away with two. McCullar, who has 27 steals for the season, has six steals during the three-game winning streak.
GAME-BY-GAME TURNOVERS (TTU-OPPONENT): TTU 10-NSU 19; TTU 12-SAM 18; TTU 18-HOU 14; TTU 13-TROY 22; TTU 13-GRAM 30; TTU 16-ACU 22; TTU 4-TAMUCC 20; TTU 7-KU 16; TTU 13-OU 16; TTU 7-UIW 20; TTU 14-OSU 13; TTU 9-KSU 14; TTU 10-ISU 15; TTU 7-UT 15; TTU 20-BU 16; TTU 2-WVU 12; TTU 13-LSU 12; TTU 10-OU 11; TTU 10-KSU 18; TTU 13-WVU 15; TTU 10-KU 6; TTU 12-OSU 17; TTU 11-UT 12; TTU 9-TCU 15; TTU 14-ISU 13.
OUR LEADER: Beard is in his fifth season as the Texas Tech head coach where he has led the program to a 111-52 record, including an 8-2 mark in the NCAA Tournament. Beard was named the 2019 Associated Press National Coach of the Year and earned Big 12 Coach of the Year in 2018 and 2019. An assistant coach at Texas Tech under Bob and Pat Knight, Beard has amassed an impressive 141-57 record as a Division I head coach that started with one season at Little Rock where he was 30-5. He also has head coaching stops at Fort Scott Community College, Seminole State, McMurry and Angelo State in his collegiate career. Beard is the 17th head coach in Texas Tech history and reached 100 wins on Dec. 12, 2020 against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. He is the fastest Tech coach to reach that milestone following James Dickey (148 games), Bob Knight (150), Gerald Myers (152) and Polk Robison (170).