Saturday, December 15
Lubbock Municipal Coliseum
6 p.m.
Texas Tech Athletics
vs
Abilene Christian
PREVIEW: Abilene Christian
December 14, 2018 | Men's Basketball
Red Raiders vs. Abilene Christian | 6 p.m., Saturday | Lubbock Municipal Coliseum | TexasTech.tv | TTSN
LUBBOCK, Texas – Texas Tech will look to improve to 10-0 to start a season for only the second time in program history when it hosts Abilene Christian at 6 p.m. on Saturday in a Throwback Game at the Lubbock Municipal Coliseum.Â
Tickets for game are now exclusively available at the Lubbock Coliseum starting at 5 p.m. All students will be allowed in free with a valid#TexasTech University ID while supplies last.
The No. 11-ranked Red Raiders (9-0) are unbeaten through nine games for the first time since 2009-10 after earning a 79-44 win over Northwestern State on Wednesday at the United Supermarkets Arena. TTU leads the nation by limiting opponents to a 32.6 shooting percentage after holding the Demons to 24.5 percent for a season-low. The Red Raiders and Wildcats (9-1) will be meeting for the 27th time with the most recent result being a 74-47 win by Texas Tech last season. The previous meeting before last season was in 1957 and the first game between the two West Texas universities came in 1926 when they split a pair of games.
Texas Tech, which is 6-0 at home this season, has not been 10-0 to start a season since going 12-0 in the 1929-30 season for the best start in program history. TTU has now won 44 non-conference home games in a row. The Red Raiders are currently 3-0 against Southland Conference opponents this season, including a season-opening win over Incarnate Word before a 19-point win over Southeastern Louisiana and then Northwestern State earlier this week.
FOLLOW THE RED RAIDERS: Texas Tech and Abilene Christian will be streamed live on TexasTech.tv and broadcasted on the Texas Tech Sports Network. Geoff Haxton and Chris Level will have the online streaming and radio call for the Throwback Game between the Red Raiders and Wildcats.
LUBBOCK MUNICIPAL COLISEUM: Texas Tech played in the Lubbock Municipal Coliseum for 43 years with the first basketball game on Dec. 3, 1956 against Kansas State. The first TTU win came with a 66-62 victory over Tulsa on Dec. 10, 1956 and the Red Raiders completed their first season in the Coliseum on a three-game home winning streak against Arizona, West Texas A&M and New Mexico State. Before last season's Throwback Game, the previous game to be played at the Lubbock Municipal Coliseum was on Feb. 24, 1999 against Colorado. Texas Tech earned a 73-53 win over Rice in last year's game at the Coliseum on Dec. 16, 2017.
POLLS/STAT RANKINGS:Â Texas Tech remains one of only nine teams in the nation still unbeaten and is up two spots to No. 11 in this week's Associated Press Top 25 and USA TODAY Coaches Poll. Along with the two national polls, the Red Raiders (8-0) moved up one spot to No. 4 in the NCAA NET Rankings and to No. 9 in the ESPN Power Rankings after spending the past two weeks at No. 10. Statistically, TTU leads the nation by limiting opponents to only 32.6 percent shooting and is second in scoring defense (51.6) behind only Virginia which is at 51.2 points allowed per game. The team is also third nationally with a 25.4 margin of victory, sixth in 3-point defense (25.1%) and sixth with a plus-6.1 turnover margin advantage. Texas Tech is in both national polls for the third straight week after beginning unranked in the preseason poll through the third week of the season. The Tech offense is shooting 49.3 percent from the field and is 59-for-154 (38.3 %) on 3-pointers.The team entered the polls for the first time this season at No. 19 in the USA TODAY Coaches Poll and No. 20 in the AP Top 25 in the fourth poll before moving up to No. 13 in both last week. Kansas (8-0) moved up to the top-ranked team in the nation in both polls this week, while Duke (9-1), Tennessee (7-1), Gonzaga (9-1) and Michigan (10-0) make up the AP top-five. The USA Today poll has KU, Duke, Virginia (9-0), Tennessee and Michigan as its top-five.
TEXAS TECH NOTES: Jarrett Culver leads the Red Raiders this season with 17.9 points, 5.6 rebounds and 4.6 assists per game to start his sophomore season. A Lubbock native, Culver was named to the Jerry West Award Watch List and earned Big 12 Preseason All-Big 12 Honorable Mention selection leading into the season and has shined through nine games. He currently ranks fourth in the Big 12 in scoring and has scored in double figures in all nine games, scored 20 or more in four and recorded four or more assists in eight games. Culver matched a career-high with 26 points in a win over Nebraska earlier this season in Kansas City and is coming off scoring 15 points, grabbing six rebounds and dishing out five assists in the win on Wednesday against Northwestern State. Through 46 games in his career, Culver has scored 576 points and has 108 assists.
Texas Tech added two graduate transfers to its roster this season in Matt Mooney and Tariq Owens and are seeing an immediate impact. Owens leads the Big 12 and is 12th nationally with 26 blocked shots (2.89 BPG) and is also averaging 8.7 points and 5.3 rebounds per game in his first season in Lubbock after two seasons at St. John's. He has already established a new TTU program record with eight block shots in a game against Memphis and is coming off a scoring 14 points and securing eight rebounds in the win on Wednesday against NSU. Owens has the only double-double of the season for the Red Raiders after he has 13 points and 11 rebounds in the win over Memphis where he also had the eight blocked shots. A senior from Illinois who transferred from South Dakota, Mooney is second on the team with 10.7 points per game and currently ranks second in the Big 12 with 2.11 steals per game. He scored a season-high 17 points against Southern Cal and has scored 11 points in the last two games after going 5-for-8 from the field against Arkansas-Pine Bluff and then hitting a season-best three 3-pointers against NSU. He has three games with six assists and had a season-high four steals against the Trojans in Kansas City. He currently has 34 assists and 19 steals on the season.
After playing in all 37 games last season as a freshman but with only one start, Davide Moretti is averaging 9.6 points and 3.0 assists per game with nine starts this season. A guard from Italy, Moretti has two 17-point performances this season against Mississippi Valley State and USC and had a season-high six assists in the win over Incarnate Word. Texas Tech senior Norense Odiase leads the team along with Culver with 5.6 rebounds per game to start his senior season after pulling down seven rebounds on Wednesday against Northwestern State. A Fort Worth native, Odiase recorded a career-high 13 rebounds earlier this season against Southern Louisiana after having 10 rebounds against Mississippi Valley.
Moretti, Culver, Odiase, Owens and Mooney have started all nine games together this season.
The Texas Tech bench has been led by senior Brandone Francis, sophomore Deshawn Corprew and freshman Kyler Edwards. Francis is averaging 5.7 points per game with a season-high 13 coming against Incarnate Word, while Edwards went off for 19 points on a 7-for-7 shooting performance (4-for-4 3-pointers) against Northern Colorado and is averaging 7.7 points per game. Corprew, who transferred to Tech this season from South Plains College, is coming off an 11-point performance against Northwestern State and is averaging 7.8 points and 4.1 rebounds per game. He scored a career-high 13 points in the win over Northern Colorado and also had 12 against Memphis in Miami where he also had five rebounds. Francis, who started his collegiate career at Florida before transferring to Lubbock, had a season-high six assists against Memphis and has 21 assists on the season.
ABILENE CHRISTIAN NOTES: The Wildcats are off to their 9-1 start to the season after earning a 93-53 win over Schreiner last Saturday and have NCAA Division I wins over Arkansas State, Denver, Elon, Pacific, UC-Riverside and Campbell. ACU's lone defeat came against Pepperdine in a 77-62 loss in California. Joe Golding, who played at ACU while Texas Tech coach Chris Beard was an assistant coach for the Wildcats, is in his eighth season leading the Abilene program. Golding's associate head coach, Brette Tanner, was Beard's first assistant at Fort Scott Community College in 1999-2000 and ACU assistant, Ted Crass, was one of Beard's assistants at Little Rock during the 2015-16 season.  Â
ACU has three players averaging in double figures, led by Jaren Lewis at 15.2 points per game and Jalone Friday adding 13 and Payten Ricks at 12 points per game. Lewis also leads the team with 5.5 rebounds, while Jaylen Franks has 53 assists (5.3 APG) and Payten Ricks is at 2.5 steals (25 total). ACU has forced 175 turnovers and own a plus-5.6 margin and will come into Lubbock shooting 52.4 percent as a team. The Wildcats are at 43.5 percent on 3-pointers and are averaging 80.1 points per game. Texas Tech is limiting opponents to 51.6 points per game this season and has not allowed over 67 points per game.
FOLLOW TEXAS TECH:Â Fans and media can stay connected by following the team @TexasTechMBB on Twitter and Instagram and at Facebook.com/TexasTechMBB.
TICKETS:Â The Texas Tech Athletics Ticket Office is selling season tickets for as low as $135 online at www.TexasTech.com. Fans also can purchase season tickets in person at the Texas Tech Athletics Ticket Office located on the East Side of Jones AT&T Stadium or over the phone at (806) 742-8324 (TECH). The ACU game at the Coliseum will not be a part of the 2018-19 season ticket package.Â
Tickets for game are now exclusively available at the Lubbock Coliseum starting at 5 p.m. All students will be allowed in free with a valid
The No. 11-ranked Red Raiders (9-0) are unbeaten through nine games for the first time since 2009-10 after earning a 79-44 win over Northwestern State on Wednesday at the United Supermarkets Arena. TTU leads the nation by limiting opponents to a 32.6 shooting percentage after holding the Demons to 24.5 percent for a season-low. The Red Raiders and Wildcats (9-1) will be meeting for the 27th time with the most recent result being a 74-47 win by Texas Tech last season. The previous meeting before last season was in 1957 and the first game between the two West Texas universities came in 1926 when they split a pair of games.
Texas Tech, which is 6-0 at home this season, has not been 10-0 to start a season since going 12-0 in the 1929-30 season for the best start in program history. TTU has now won 44 non-conference home games in a row. The Red Raiders are currently 3-0 against Southland Conference opponents this season, including a season-opening win over Incarnate Word before a 19-point win over Southeastern Louisiana and then Northwestern State earlier this week.
FOLLOW THE RED RAIDERS: Texas Tech and Abilene Christian will be streamed live on TexasTech.tv and broadcasted on the Texas Tech Sports Network. Geoff Haxton and Chris Level will have the online streaming and radio call for the Throwback Game between the Red Raiders and Wildcats.
LUBBOCK MUNICIPAL COLISEUM: Texas Tech played in the Lubbock Municipal Coliseum for 43 years with the first basketball game on Dec. 3, 1956 against Kansas State. The first TTU win came with a 66-62 victory over Tulsa on Dec. 10, 1956 and the Red Raiders completed their first season in the Coliseum on a three-game home winning streak against Arizona, West Texas A&M and New Mexico State. Before last season's Throwback Game, the previous game to be played at the Lubbock Municipal Coliseum was on Feb. 24, 1999 against Colorado. Texas Tech earned a 73-53 win over Rice in last year's game at the Coliseum on Dec. 16, 2017.
"We always felt we had a great advantage when we played here. We had rowdy crowds." - Gerald Myers #4To1??#WreckEm?? pic.twitter.com/xMZgZMnEGJ
— Texas Tech Basketball (@TexasTechMBB) December 14, 2018
POLLS/STAT RANKINGS:Â Texas Tech remains one of only nine teams in the nation still unbeaten and is up two spots to No. 11 in this week's Associated Press Top 25 and USA TODAY Coaches Poll. Along with the two national polls, the Red Raiders (8-0) moved up one spot to No. 4 in the NCAA NET Rankings and to No. 9 in the ESPN Power Rankings after spending the past two weeks at No. 10. Statistically, TTU leads the nation by limiting opponents to only 32.6 percent shooting and is second in scoring defense (51.6) behind only Virginia which is at 51.2 points allowed per game. The team is also third nationally with a 25.4 margin of victory, sixth in 3-point defense (25.1%) and sixth with a plus-6.1 turnover margin advantage. Texas Tech is in both national polls for the third straight week after beginning unranked in the preseason poll through the third week of the season. The Tech offense is shooting 49.3 percent from the field and is 59-for-154 (38.3 %) on 3-pointers.The team entered the polls for the first time this season at No. 19 in the USA TODAY Coaches Poll and No. 20 in the AP Top 25 in the fourth poll before moving up to No. 13 in both last week. Kansas (8-0) moved up to the top-ranked team in the nation in both polls this week, while Duke (9-1), Tennessee (7-1), Gonzaga (9-1) and Michigan (10-0) make up the AP top-five. The USA Today poll has KU, Duke, Virginia (9-0), Tennessee and Michigan as its top-five.
TEXAS TECH NOTES: Jarrett Culver leads the Red Raiders this season with 17.9 points, 5.6 rebounds and 4.6 assists per game to start his sophomore season. A Lubbock native, Culver was named to the Jerry West Award Watch List and earned Big 12 Preseason All-Big 12 Honorable Mention selection leading into the season and has shined through nine games. He currently ranks fourth in the Big 12 in scoring and has scored in double figures in all nine games, scored 20 or more in four and recorded four or more assists in eight games. Culver matched a career-high with 26 points in a win over Nebraska earlier this season in Kansas City and is coming off scoring 15 points, grabbing six rebounds and dishing out five assists in the win on Wednesday against Northwestern State. Through 46 games in his career, Culver has scored 576 points and has 108 assists.
Texas Tech added two graduate transfers to its roster this season in Matt Mooney and Tariq Owens and are seeing an immediate impact. Owens leads the Big 12 and is 12th nationally with 26 blocked shots (2.89 BPG) and is also averaging 8.7 points and 5.3 rebounds per game in his first season in Lubbock after two seasons at St. John's. He has already established a new TTU program record with eight block shots in a game against Memphis and is coming off a scoring 14 points and securing eight rebounds in the win on Wednesday against NSU. Owens has the only double-double of the season for the Red Raiders after he has 13 points and 11 rebounds in the win over Memphis where he also had the eight blocked shots. A senior from Illinois who transferred from South Dakota, Mooney is second on the team with 10.7 points per game and currently ranks second in the Big 12 with 2.11 steals per game. He scored a season-high 17 points against Southern Cal and has scored 11 points in the last two games after going 5-for-8 from the field against Arkansas-Pine Bluff and then hitting a season-best three 3-pointers against NSU. He has three games with six assists and had a season-high four steals against the Trojans in Kansas City. He currently has 34 assists and 19 steals on the season.
After playing in all 37 games last season as a freshman but with only one start, Davide Moretti is averaging 9.6 points and 3.0 assists per game with nine starts this season. A guard from Italy, Moretti has two 17-point performances this season against Mississippi Valley State and USC and had a season-high six assists in the win over Incarnate Word. Texas Tech senior Norense Odiase leads the team along with Culver with 5.6 rebounds per game to start his senior season after pulling down seven rebounds on Wednesday against Northwestern State. A Fort Worth native, Odiase recorded a career-high 13 rebounds earlier this season against Southern Louisiana after having 10 rebounds against Mississippi Valley.
Moretti, Culver, Odiase, Owens and Mooney have started all nine games together this season.
The Texas Tech bench has been led by senior Brandone Francis, sophomore Deshawn Corprew and freshman Kyler Edwards. Francis is averaging 5.7 points per game with a season-high 13 coming against Incarnate Word, while Edwards went off for 19 points on a 7-for-7 shooting performance (4-for-4 3-pointers) against Northern Colorado and is averaging 7.7 points per game. Corprew, who transferred to Tech this season from South Plains College, is coming off an 11-point performance against Northwestern State and is averaging 7.8 points and 4.1 rebounds per game. He scored a career-high 13 points in the win over Northern Colorado and also had 12 against Memphis in Miami where he also had five rebounds. Francis, who started his collegiate career at Florida before transferring to Lubbock, had a season-high six assists against Memphis and has 21 assists on the season.
ABILENE CHRISTIAN NOTES: The Wildcats are off to their 9-1 start to the season after earning a 93-53 win over Schreiner last Saturday and have NCAA Division I wins over Arkansas State, Denver, Elon, Pacific, UC-Riverside and Campbell. ACU's lone defeat came against Pepperdine in a 77-62 loss in California. Joe Golding, who played at ACU while Texas Tech coach Chris Beard was an assistant coach for the Wildcats, is in his eighth season leading the Abilene program. Golding's associate head coach, Brette Tanner, was Beard's first assistant at Fort Scott Community College in 1999-2000 and ACU assistant, Ted Crass, was one of Beard's assistants at Little Rock during the 2015-16 season.  Â
ACU has three players averaging in double figures, led by Jaren Lewis at 15.2 points per game and Jalone Friday adding 13 and Payten Ricks at 12 points per game. Lewis also leads the team with 5.5 rebounds, while Jaylen Franks has 53 assists (5.3 APG) and Payten Ricks is at 2.5 steals (25 total). ACU has forced 175 turnovers and own a plus-5.6 margin and will come into Lubbock shooting 52.4 percent as a team. The Wildcats are at 43.5 percent on 3-pointers and are averaging 80.1 points per game. Texas Tech is limiting opponents to 51.6 points per game this season and has not allowed over 67 points per game.
FOLLOW TEXAS TECH:Â Fans and media can stay connected by following the team @TexasTechMBB on Twitter and Instagram and at Facebook.com/TexasTechMBB.
TICKETS:Â The Texas Tech Athletics Ticket Office is selling season tickets for as low as $135 online at www.TexasTech.com. Fans also can purchase season tickets in person at the Texas Tech Athletics Ticket Office located on the East Side of Jones AT&T Stadium or over the phone at (806) 742-8324 (TECH). The ACU game at the Coliseum will not be a part of the 2018-19 season ticket package.Â
ÂThe highlights from our 44th-straight non-con win at the USA. #4To1
— Texas Tech Basketball (@TexasTechMBB) December 13, 2018
??#WreckEm?? pic.twitter.com/SEaZoOAkHN
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