Red Raider Preview: No. 21 West Virginia

Monday, February 26

Morgantown, W Va.

8:00 PM

Texas Tech Athletics

No. 20 West Virginia

Red Raider Preview: No. 21 West Virginia

February 25, 2018 | Men's Basketball

Game Notes

The Red Raiders and Mountaineers enter the week tied for second place in the Big 12 standings.

MORGANTOWN, W. Va. – The No. 6 Texas Tech men's basketball team moves into the final week of the regular season and faces a quick turnaround with a trip to No. 21 West Virginia on Monday.

Tipoff is on-tap for 8 p.m. CT, and the game will be televised by ESPN2 along with the ESPN app. Rich Hollenberg and Fran Fraschilla will serve as the announcing team.

The Texas Tech Sports Network will carry the game live on its flagship stations Double T 97.3 FM, 100.7 FM the Score and 950 AM in Lubbock. Geoff Haxton and Chris Level will have the radio call. The radio broadcast also will be available on the Texas Tech Sports Network radio affiliates, online at www.TexasTech.com and the Tune-In Radio app. Fans can interact live with Monday's broadcast by following @GunsUpRadio on Twitter.

Texas Tech (22-7, 10-6 Big 12) will look to stop a season's long three-game winning streak. The three setbacks have come by a combined 12 points which includes a 74-72 decision to No. 8 Kansas last time out. The Red Raiders and Mountaineers (21-8, 10-6 Big 12) are deadlocked for second place in the Big 12 standings heading into the final week of the regular season and one game ahead of Kansas State.

Texas Tech will play its seventh ranked vs. ranked matchup on the season. The Red Raiders have won four of the six decisions on the season which includes a 72-71 victory over then No. 2 West Virginia back on Jan. 13.

The Mountaineers have won three of their last four and five of their last seven during the month of February. West Virginia's losses were an 88-85 home decision to Oklahoma State on Feb. 10 and a 77-69 road defeat to Kansas on Feb. 17. WVU are veterans on the Saturday-Monday turn for the fifth time.

The Red Raiders have won two of the last three meetings with West Virginia, but the Mountaineers hold a 10-3 series advantage. WVU has won all five meetings in Morgantown with three of the matchups decided by single digits. Last year's game at West Virginia went to double overtime.

ABOUT TEXAS TECH
The Red Raiders are ranked among the Big 12's top three in scoring defense (63.5 PPG), opponent field goal percentage (39.8), steals (7.8 SPG), opponent three-point percentage (32.1), and rebounding margin (+4.4). The first three marks are ranked inside the NCAA's Top 25 along with turnovers forced and turnover margin.

Keenan Evans has registered 17.2 points, 3.3 assists and 1.3 steals per game. He has been held to single digits in his last three injuries while battling a toe injury. Evans is a finalist for three major national awards which include the Bob Cousy, the Wooden and Naismith Trophy. He provided 20 points and five rebounds in the first meeting with West Virginia. Evans is one of six players in program history to eclipse 1,300 points, 300 rebounds, 300 assists and 100 steals.

Jarrett Culver and Zhaire Smith have climbed their season scoring averages to 11.4 and 11.2 points per game which hold the fifth and sixth positions among Big 12 freshmen.

Smith has exploded for 15.7 points per game and pieced together seven consecutive games in double figures. He pumped in 20 points and five rebounds against No. 8 Kansas last time out. Smith has scorched the nets for a 20-for-32 shooting clip in his last three games.

Culver has notched double figures in five of his last seven games and posted 13.6 points per game in his last seven appearances. He has found his stroke from beyond the three-point line en route to a 6-for-11 clip in his last two games.

Texas Tech's bench is ignited by Niem Stevenson (6.7 PPG), Zach Smith (6.2 PPG), Tommy Hamilton IV (6.0 PPG), Brandone Francis (5.7 PPG) and Davide Moretti (3.4 PPG).

The Red Raiders welcomed Smith back into the fold after a 13-game absence due to a foot injury. Hamilton IV has tallied 7.3 points per game over his last nine outings. Both players are closing in on 1,000 career points. Smith is 11 points shy followed by Hamilton IV who is 22 points away from the career milestone.

Francis has been a solid contributor with 6.9 points per game on 41-of-87 from the floor during Big 12 play. He poured in a season's best 17 points against West Virginia.

Justin Gray and Norense Odiase have posted 5.1 and 4.4 points per game, respectively. Gray put together back-to-back games in double figures but left the Kansas game during the first minute due to injury. Odiase has been an effective and efficient 54.7 percent from the floor.

ABOUT WEST VIRGINIA
The Mountaineers rely on their pressing identity and force their competition into 17.0 turnovers per game and average a plus 5.3 turnover margin. West Virginia's defense paces the Big 12 conference with 8.1 steals and 5.3 blocks per game.

The Mountaineers balanced offensive attack has five players in double figures fueled by Jevon Carter's 17.0 points, 6.5 assists and 2.9 steals per game. The senior guard is on the Bob Cousy, the Wooden Award Late Season and Naismith Trophy lists like Evans. Carter has piled up double figures in 12 of 16 Big 12 games headed by a 33-point outburst versus Oklahoma State on Feb. 10. He racked up 28 points but took 22 shot attempts in the first meeting with Texas Tech. Carter is the first WVU player to amass over. 1,500 career points, 500 career assists and 500 career rebounds.

Daxter Miles, Jr. has come away with 12.2 points, 3.3 assists and 1.3 steals per game. He returned to the starting lineup during the TCU game on Feb. 12 and has responded with four consecutive games in double figures. Miles, Jr. piled up his fifth game of over 20 points with a 22-point effort at Kansas on Feb. 18. The Carter-Miles, Jr. combo has played a combined 264 career games together.

On the interior, Sagaba Konate has been a force with 10.5 points coupled with 8.0 rebounds and 3.5 blocks per game. He has piled up 97 total blocks during his sophomore campaign and his 3.5 rejections are good enough for third nationally. Konate has reached 10-plus points in nine of his last 12 outings and piled up seven double-doubles on the season.

Esa Ahmad made his season debut at Texas Tech. He has turned in 10.3 points, 4.7 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game. He has secured double figures in seven games which includes four of his last six. He matched his season's best with 18 points and hauled down 11 rebounds versus Iowa State on Saturday. Ahmad has started WVU's last eight games and 74 of his 81 during his career.

Lamont West has garnered 10.2 points and 4.0 rebounds per game. He has come off the bench in the last nine games West has hit on 47 of his 94 field goals from beyond the three-point line and knocked down 14 treys in the last seven games.

James Bolden (9.5 PPG) and Teddy Allen (7.1 PPG) have given depth to the WVU bench. Bolden has connected on a team-leading 63 triples whereas Allen has shot 52.6 percent of his two-point attempts. Allen delivered 16 points and six rebounds versus TCU on Feb. 12.

UP NEXT
Texas Tech closes out its 18-game Big 12 slate against TCU on Saturday. Tipoff for Senior Day is slated for 3 p.m. CT from the United Supermarkets Arena. The game will be televised by ESPN2 and the ESPN app.

Visit www.TexasTech.com for the latest news and information on the men's basketball program. Fans also can follow the program on its social media outlets by liking TexasTechMBB on Facebook along with following @TexasTechMBB on Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat.