Saturday, January 30
Baton Rouge, LA
1 p.m.
Texas Tech University
at
LSU
RED RAIDER PREVIEW: at LSU
January 28, 2021 | Men's Basketball
No. 10 Texas Tech at LSU | 1 p.m., Saturday | TV: ESPN2 | Maravich Center – Baton Rouge, Louisiana
LUBBOCK, Texas – No. 10 Texas Tech is set to take on LSU at 1 p.m. on Saturday at the Maravich Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana as part of the eighth annual SEC/Big 12 Challenge. The Red Raiders are 4-3 in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge, including going 3-1 under head coach Chris Beard in the matchups.
Tech (11-5, 4-4 Big 12) is coming off an 88-87 loss at No. 11 West Virginia on Monday, while LSU (11-4, 6-3 SEC) snapped a two-game losing streak with a 78-66 win over Texas A&M on Tuesday where it scored the final 18 points of the game. Texas Tech is 4-3 all-time against LSU with the last matchup coming in the 2017 SEC/Big 12 Challenge and the Red Raiders earning a 77-64 win in Lubbock.
Mac McClung scored a season-high 30 points at WVU and is averaging 25.3 points per game in the last three games after also scoring 24 against No. 2 Baylor and 22 points in the win at No. 5 Texas. McClung leads the Big 12 by averaging 21.0 points per game in conference play and is second overall by averaging 17.2 points per game for the season. He is 10-for-21 on 3-pointers and 16-for-19 from the free-throw line in the past three games. Terrence Shannon, Jr. had 15 points and eight rebounds at WVU and is now averaging 12.9 points and 5.2 rebounds for the season, while Kevin McCullar is third in the Big 12 with 8.0 rebounds per game in conference play. Shannon was named one of 10 finalists for the Julius Erving Award on Wednesday. McCullar had eight rebounds at WVU and is now averaging 9.9 points and 7.3 rebounds per game this season. Kyler Edwards comes into the matchup at LSU leading the team with 39 assists and is averaging 10.0 points per game, while Marcus Santos-Silva is at 8.9 points, 6.1 rebounds and 1.2 blocks per game. McClung has scored 985 points in his career and Santos-Silva has 970 as they approach the 1,000-point milestone.
LSU is averaging 83.7 points per game and will face a Red Raider team that is 15th nationally by limiting teams to only 61.7 points per game. Tech has held 12 of 16 opponents under 70. Cameron Thomas leads the Tigers with 22.1 points per game after going off for 28 against the Aggies, while Trendon Watford is scoring 18.3 points per and Javonte Smart is at 14.6. Darius Days leads LSU with 7.8 rebounds per game and is also in double-figure scoring at 12.2 ppg. A 6-foot-4 freshman from Chesapeake, Virginia, Thomas is the leading scorer among all freshmen in the NCAA with his 22.1 points per game and is among the Top 10 candidates for the 2021 Jerry West Shooting Guard of the Year Award. Oklahoma State's Cade Cunningham is second for freshmen at 17.8 ppg. The Tigers are currently 8-1 on their home court this season under head coach Will Wade.
MEDIA: The game will be televised on ESPN2 with Tom Hart and Dane Bradshaw on the call, while on the radio Geoff Haxton and Chris Level will broadcast the game locally on Double T 97.3 and on the Texas Tech Sports Network.
RANKINGS: Texas Tech is back in the top-10 for the third season in five years under Beard after breaking into the AP and USA TODAY Coaches Poll on Monday. The Red Raiders began this season at No. 14 in the AP Preseason Poll and have been ranked throughout. The team is currently at No. 14 in the NET Rankings and No. 12 on KenPom.com.
STAT RANKINGS: The Red Raiders matched a Big 12 single-game record with only two turnovers at West Virginia and now lead the Big 12 with a 6.7 turnover margin advantage and are second with only 10.9 turnovers per game. Nationally, the turnover margin ranks fourth throughout all of college basketball and Tech is also fifth with 283 made free throws and 394 total attempts from the line. The Red Raiders are 15th in the NCAA by forcing 17.6 turnovers per game and by limiting opponents to only 61.7 points per game. Individually, McClung leads the Big 12 with 275 total points and is second in the conference at 17.2 points per game. Santos-Silva is third in the Big 12 with 19 total blocks and 2.81 offensive rebounds per game, while Edwards and McClung are tied for sixth with 29 total 3-pointers made.
BIG 12/SEC CHALLENGE: The eighth annual event will consist of 10 games as every Big 12 member faces 10 squads from the Southeastern Conference. The Red Raiders are 4-3 overall in the challenge, including going 3-1 under Beard in the matchups. Tech has also played South Carolina, Auburn, Alabama and Arkansas twice in the challenge. This will mark the sixth consecutive year for all games to be played in one day and includes matchups of: Auburn at Baylor, Iowa State at Mississippi State, Kansas at Tennessee, Texas A&M at Kansas State, Alabama at Oklahoma, Arkansas at Oklahoma State, TCU at Missouri, Texas at Kentucky and Florida at West Virginia. Big 12 teams are 40-30 (.571) in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge after a tie in 2020.
Texas Tech – SEC/Big 12 Challenge History
Date, Matchup; Location
01/25/2020: Kentucky 76, Texas Tech 74 (OT); Lubbock, Texas
01/26/2019: Texas Tech 67, Arkansas 64; Lubbock, Texas
01/27/2018: Texas Tech 70, South Carolina 63; Columbia, South Carolina
01/28/2017: Texas Tech 77, LSU 64; Lubbock, Texas
01/30/2016: Arkansas 75, Texas Tech 68 (OT); Fayetteville, Arkansas
12/03/2014: Texas Tech 46, Auburn 44; Lubbock, Texas
11/14/2013: Alabama 76, Texas Tech 64; Tuscaloosa, Alabama
SERIES HISTORY: Texas Tech and LSU will be meeting for the eighth time, dating back to the first matchup in 1957 and the most recent in 2017. Tech owns a 4-3 advantage in the all-time series. The Red Raiders earned a 77-64 victory in Lubbock on Jan. 28, 2017 during Beard's first season in the Big 12/SEC Challenge which snapped a three-game losing streak to the Tigers. Tech earned a 79-72 victory on Dec. 16, 1957 in Baton Rouge in the first matchup between the two programs. Tech is 2-1 all-time in Baton Rouge. Beard is 4-1 against the SEC.
UP NEXT: Texas Tech will play in its second straight ESPN Big Monday when it returns to Lubbock to host No. 24 Oklahoma (10-4, 6-3 Big 12) at 8 p.m. at the United Supermarkets Arena. The Red Raiders earned a 69-67 win over the Sooners on Dec. 22 in the first matchup between the two teams this season. OU entered the national rankings for the first time this season on Monday and then went out and earned an 80-79 win at No. 5 Texas on Tuesday night for its fourth straight win. The Sooners will host No. 9 Alabama at 11 a.m. on Saturday in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge before traveling to Lubbock.
RED RAIDER REPORT: McClung has scored his season-high in points in each of the past three games, going for 30 at West Virginia after dropping 24 against Baylor and 22 at Texas. A junior from Gate City, Virginia, McClung leads the Big 12 with 21.0 points per conference game and is second overall at 17.2 points per game for the season. He has recorded seven games of 20 or more points, including five in conference play and made four 3-pointers in the games against Baylor and WVU. Transferring to Tech this season from Georgetown, McClung comes into Saturday's game needing only 15 points to reach 1,000 in his career after averaging 22.0 in the past five games. He scored his season-high 30 points at WVU by going 11-for-21 from the field (4-for-7 on 3-pointers) and also was 4-for-5 at the free-throw line. He tops the Big 12 with 70 made free throws where he is 70-fo-86 (81.4 percent). McClung was the first 30-plus scorer for Tech since Jarrett Culver had 31 points in the 2018-19 regular-season finale. Culver had two 30-plus games in that season after Keenan Evans had 31 at South Carolina in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge in 2018. Evans has the Beard-era high of 38 points against Texas on Jan. 31, 2018. Along with his scoring, McClung had three assists against the Mountaineers and is averaging 2.4 per game (39 total) through 16 games. He is shooting 35.4 percent on 3-pointers with 29 makes this season and 99 through 66 games in his career. McClung was named the Big 12 Player of the Week on Jan. 18 after hitting the game-winning shot against the Longhorns.
Shannon was named an Erving Award Finalist on Wednesday and comes into the matchup against LSU averaging 12.9 points and 5.2 rebounds per game. A Chicago, Illinois native, Shannon is coming off a game at West Virginia where he had 15 points and eight rebounds to take his Big 12 averages to 14.8 points and 6.0 rebounds per game. He scored a season-high 22 points in the home win over Kansas State where he was 5-for-9 from the field and 11-for-12 at the free-throw line. Shannon is playing a sixth-man role after starting the first 10 games and averages 30.4 minutes per game in Big 12 play which is the second most on the team. He has scored in double figures in 12 of 15 games played with a 21-point performance at Oklahoma and 20 points against Kansas on his sophomore resume. Shannon has scored 478 points and has 198 rebounds through 44 games in his collegiate career. He scored a career-high 24 points as a freshman last season at DePaul and also had an 11-rebound performance at Kansas during his first year with the Red Raiders. He had a season-high nine rebounds in the 20-point game against the Jayhawks in this year's conference opener.
McCullar leads Tech with 8.0 rebounds per game in Big 12 play and is averaging 9.9 points and 7.3 rebounds through seven games played this season. A redshirt sophomore, McCullar missed the first nine games of the season with an injury suffered in preseason practice but has returned to prove that he is one of the most versatile players in the Big 12. He is coming off an eight-rebound performance at West Virginia where he also led the team in assists for the second straight game. He scored a career-high 16 points at Texas by going 6-for-7 from the field with two 3-pointers and has double-doubles with 15 points/11 rebounds at Iowa State and 10/10 against Baylor. A third-year player from San Antonio, McCullar redshirted his first season when the Red Raiders advanced to the Final Four and played in 29 games last year. His four assists at WVU on Monday were a career high and gives him 13 this season.
Santos-Silva is the team's only senior and comes into this weekend with 970 points, 717 rebound and 111 blocks through 113 games played. A grad transfer from VCU, Santos-Silva is averaging 8.9 points and 6.1 rebounds in his first season at Tech and leads the team with 1.2 blocks per game (19 total). He is coming off a game against West Virginia where he scored nine point after he had 11 rebounds and eight points against Baylor. In Big 12 play, he is averaging 9.3 points and 5.0 rebounds per game that includes a season-high 14 points in the home win over Kansas State. A Taunton, Massachusetts native, he had a career-high four blocks against Abilene Christian and Oklahoma State this season. At VCU, he scored a career-high 26 points in games against Rhode Island and George Mason and had a career-best 22 rebounds in a monster double-double against Rhode Island. He is shooting 61.7 percent this season which is the highest in his four-year collegiate career.
Edwards comes into the game averaging 10.0 points per game after scoring eight points at West Virginia and leads the Red Raiders with 41 assists this season. A junior from Arlington, Edwards scored a season-high 19 points in games against Iowa State and Abilene Christian and had a career-high seven assists in the season opener against Northwestern State. He is tied for the team lead with McClung with both juniors having 29 made 3-pointers this season. He recorded the first double-double of his career with 13 points and 11 rebounds in non-conference play against Grambling on Dec. 6 at home and had a nine-rebound performance in the road win at Oklahoma. Edwards was 2-for-4 on 3-pointers against West Virginia and has made 108 in his career. A third-year player for the Red Raiders, Edwards appeared as a reserve in all 38 games as freshman during the Final Four run and started all 31 last season as a reserve. He has now scored 722 points, has 178 assists and 292 rebounds through 85 games of his career. Edwards and McClung were both named Big 12 Preseason Honorable Mention.
Peavy has started 15 of 16 games as a freshman and is averaging 5.9 points, 1.4 assists and 2.9 rebounds for the Red Raiders after going for six points and two rebounds at WVU. He also scored six points and had five rebounds against Baylor. Named the Class 6A Player of the Year and a state champion at Duncanville HS, Peavy has made an immediate impact for the Red Raiders including scoring 14 points against Northwestern State in the season opener. He has scored in double figures three times, including 12 points against Houston and A&M-Corpus Christi. Peavy is currently averaging 4.9 points per conference game and has a career-high six rebound on his resume that came against Kansas. A junior transfer from Wichita State, Burton has started four games and played 12 as a reserve in his first season with the Red Raiders. He is coming off a game at WVU where he had nine points and five rebounds and is currently averaging 4.9 points and 2.1 rebounds for the season. He had a season-high 10 points in the non-conference win over Grambling and also had a nine-point performance at Iowa State in Big 12 action. Burton had 126 assists as a freshman and 102 as a sophomore for the Shockers and is currently averaging 1.4 assists this season. Through 83 games of his collegiate career, Burton has 608 points, 251 assists and 263 rebounds.
Benson missed the game at WVU due to an injury suffered in practice during the postponements and is listed as day-to-day. A junior from Arkansas, Benson is 4-for-6 on 3-pointers this season and is averaging 1.6 points in 12 games played this year. He is the only player on the roster who was with the program during the runs to the 2018 Elite, 2019 Big 12 Championship and 2019 Final Four. He scored a career-high 10 points last season against No. 1 Louisville at the Jimmy V Classic in Madison Square Garden. Nadolny is in his sophomore season and is averaging 1.8 points per game after scoring three at WVU. A guard from France, he has played in 11 games this season and 35 in his two seasons with the Red Raiders. He has a career-high nine points against Houston Baptist last season as a freshman and scored six against Corpus for a season-high earlier this year in the game that was played in Frisco. He had a career-high three assists on Monday against the Mountaineers.
Smith is playing in his first season after redshirting last season, while Chibuzo Agbo and Vladislav Goldin are true freshmen on the roster. A Baton Rouge native, Smith returns to his hometown this weekend averaging 2.6 points and 2.2 rebounds per game. He scored a season-high seven points in the non-conference wins over Northwestern State and Troy and has a Big 12 high of four points against Kansas and Oklahoma State. Smith is second on the team with 13 blocked shots, including a career-high three blocks against Troy. Agbo hit a 3-pointer at WVU and is now averaging 1.7 points per game this season, while Goldin has not played since the game at Iowa State. The tallest player on Tech's roster at 7-foot-1, Goldin is averaging 2.8 points and 1.5 rebounds in six games played this season.
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 eight times this season after only having two at West Virginia. In the loss to Baylor, Tech committed a season-high 20 turnovers before responding by matching the Big 12 single-game record. The Red Raiders are currently averaging only 10.9 turnovers per game which is the second in the Big 12 and 25th nationally. In Big 12 play, Tech also had only seven turnovers against Texas and Kansas, nine in the win over Kansas State and 10 at Iowa State. Tech had only one turnover at halftime against the Cyclones to get out to a 24-point lead. In non-conference play, Tech had only four turnovers against Corpus Christi which was the low in the Beard era. During his five seasons, Tech has committed 10 or less turnovers 59 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 plus-6.5 turnover margin which is fourth nationally.
FORCING THE ISSUE: Texas Tech forced 30 turnovers against Grambling for the most since the 2009 season opener against South Dakota. In the past four games, the Red Raiders forced 16 against Baylor after 15 turnovers at Texas and Iowa State. WVU committed 12 turnovers to give the Red Raiders a plus-10 advantage in that stat column. Tech has recorded 13 steals in two games this season, against Grambling and Northwestern State. The team had seven steals against the Mountaineers. 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.
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.
BLOCK PARTY: The Red Raiders are currently 27th nationally and lead the Big 12 with 69 total blocks after having a season-high nine blocks against Baylor but only one at WVU. McCullar and McClung both had career-high block totals in the game against the Bears with four and three blocks, respectively. Santos-Silva leads the team with 19 blocks and Smith has 13. Tech is averaging 4.5 blocks per game this season after having 4.0 per game last year.
SHARING THE WEALTH: Texas Tech is averaging 12.9 assists per game after 14 on 34 makes at WVU. The team has seven games with 15 or more assists. Tech had a season-high 25 assists in the opener against Northwestern State. Edwards has the individual high this season with seven in that game against NSU. McCullar led the Red Raiders with three assists against Baylor and then again at WVU with four.
STIFLING STARTS: The Texas Tech defense has been strong throughout the first 16 games, but especially solid in the first half where it has outscored its first 16 opponents by a combined 575-448 margin. TTU and WVU were tied at 39 for the first tie at halftime this season for the Red Raiders. Tech had trailed by as many as 10 to the Mountaineers before squaring it going into the locker room. The Longhorns were an anomaly, outscoring the Red Raiders by a 48-38 margin before Tech made its second-half comeback for the win. Only six of the first 16 opponents have scored over 30 points through the opening 20 minutes of games. ACU was limited to only 14 points in the opening 20 minutes and Sam Houston was at 15. The 14 points scored by ACU at the break was the lowest since Northwestern State was held to 10 points at halftime in 2018.
OUR LEADER: Beard is in his fifth season as the Texas Tech head coach where he has led the program to a 105-49 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 135-54 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). Beard is now 200-77 as an NCAA head coach.
Tech (11-5, 4-4 Big 12) is coming off an 88-87 loss at No. 11 West Virginia on Monday, while LSU (11-4, 6-3 SEC) snapped a two-game losing streak with a 78-66 win over Texas A&M on Tuesday where it scored the final 18 points of the game. Texas Tech is 4-3 all-time against LSU with the last matchup coming in the 2017 SEC/Big 12 Challenge and the Red Raiders earning a 77-64 win in Lubbock.
Mac McClung scored a season-high 30 points at WVU and is averaging 25.3 points per game in the last three games after also scoring 24 against No. 2 Baylor and 22 points in the win at No. 5 Texas. McClung leads the Big 12 by averaging 21.0 points per game in conference play and is second overall by averaging 17.2 points per game for the season. He is 10-for-21 on 3-pointers and 16-for-19 from the free-throw line in the past three games. Terrence Shannon, Jr. had 15 points and eight rebounds at WVU and is now averaging 12.9 points and 5.2 rebounds for the season, while Kevin McCullar is third in the Big 12 with 8.0 rebounds per game in conference play. Shannon was named one of 10 finalists for the Julius Erving Award on Wednesday. McCullar had eight rebounds at WVU and is now averaging 9.9 points and 7.3 rebounds per game this season. Kyler Edwards comes into the matchup at LSU leading the team with 39 assists and is averaging 10.0 points per game, while Marcus Santos-Silva is at 8.9 points, 6.1 rebounds and 1.2 blocks per game. McClung has scored 985 points in his career and Santos-Silva has 970 as they approach the 1,000-point milestone.
LSU is averaging 83.7 points per game and will face a Red Raider team that is 15th nationally by limiting teams to only 61.7 points per game. Tech has held 12 of 16 opponents under 70. Cameron Thomas leads the Tigers with 22.1 points per game after going off for 28 against the Aggies, while Trendon Watford is scoring 18.3 points per and Javonte Smart is at 14.6. Darius Days leads LSU with 7.8 rebounds per game and is also in double-figure scoring at 12.2 ppg. A 6-foot-4 freshman from Chesapeake, Virginia, Thomas is the leading scorer among all freshmen in the NCAA with his 22.1 points per game and is among the Top 10 candidates for the 2021 Jerry West Shooting Guard of the Year Award. Oklahoma State's Cade Cunningham is second for freshmen at 17.8 ppg. The Tigers are currently 8-1 on their home court this season under head coach Will Wade.
MEDIA: The game will be televised on ESPN2 with Tom Hart and Dane Bradshaw on the call, while on the radio Geoff Haxton and Chris Level will broadcast the game locally on Double T 97.3 and on the Texas Tech Sports Network.
RANKINGS: Texas Tech is back in the top-10 for the third season in five years under Beard after breaking into the AP and USA TODAY Coaches Poll on Monday. The Red Raiders began this season at No. 14 in the AP Preseason Poll and have been ranked throughout. The team is currently at No. 14 in the NET Rankings and No. 12 on KenPom.com.
STAT RANKINGS: The Red Raiders matched a Big 12 single-game record with only two turnovers at West Virginia and now lead the Big 12 with a 6.7 turnover margin advantage and are second with only 10.9 turnovers per game. Nationally, the turnover margin ranks fourth throughout all of college basketball and Tech is also fifth with 283 made free throws and 394 total attempts from the line. The Red Raiders are 15th in the NCAA by forcing 17.6 turnovers per game and by limiting opponents to only 61.7 points per game. Individually, McClung leads the Big 12 with 275 total points and is second in the conference at 17.2 points per game. Santos-Silva is third in the Big 12 with 19 total blocks and 2.81 offensive rebounds per game, while Edwards and McClung are tied for sixth with 29 total 3-pointers made.
BIG 12/SEC CHALLENGE: The eighth annual event will consist of 10 games as every Big 12 member faces 10 squads from the Southeastern Conference. The Red Raiders are 4-3 overall in the challenge, including going 3-1 under Beard in the matchups. Tech has also played South Carolina, Auburn, Alabama and Arkansas twice in the challenge. This will mark the sixth consecutive year for all games to be played in one day and includes matchups of: Auburn at Baylor, Iowa State at Mississippi State, Kansas at Tennessee, Texas A&M at Kansas State, Alabama at Oklahoma, Arkansas at Oklahoma State, TCU at Missouri, Texas at Kentucky and Florida at West Virginia. Big 12 teams are 40-30 (.571) in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge after a tie in 2020.
Texas Tech – SEC/Big 12 Challenge History
Date, Matchup; Location
01/25/2020: Kentucky 76, Texas Tech 74 (OT); Lubbock, Texas
01/26/2019: Texas Tech 67, Arkansas 64; Lubbock, Texas
01/27/2018: Texas Tech 70, South Carolina 63; Columbia, South Carolina
01/28/2017: Texas Tech 77, LSU 64; Lubbock, Texas
01/30/2016: Arkansas 75, Texas Tech 68 (OT); Fayetteville, Arkansas
12/03/2014: Texas Tech 46, Auburn 44; Lubbock, Texas
11/14/2013: Alabama 76, Texas Tech 64; Tuscaloosa, Alabama
SERIES HISTORY: Texas Tech and LSU will be meeting for the eighth time, dating back to the first matchup in 1957 and the most recent in 2017. Tech owns a 4-3 advantage in the all-time series. The Red Raiders earned a 77-64 victory in Lubbock on Jan. 28, 2017 during Beard's first season in the Big 12/SEC Challenge which snapped a three-game losing streak to the Tigers. Tech earned a 79-72 victory on Dec. 16, 1957 in Baton Rouge in the first matchup between the two programs. Tech is 2-1 all-time in Baton Rouge. Beard is 4-1 against the SEC.
UP NEXT: Texas Tech will play in its second straight ESPN Big Monday when it returns to Lubbock to host No. 24 Oklahoma (10-4, 6-3 Big 12) at 8 p.m. at the United Supermarkets Arena. The Red Raiders earned a 69-67 win over the Sooners on Dec. 22 in the first matchup between the two teams this season. OU entered the national rankings for the first time this season on Monday and then went out and earned an 80-79 win at No. 5 Texas on Tuesday night for its fourth straight win. The Sooners will host No. 9 Alabama at 11 a.m. on Saturday in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge before traveling to Lubbock.
RED RAIDER REPORT: McClung has scored his season-high in points in each of the past three games, going for 30 at West Virginia after dropping 24 against Baylor and 22 at Texas. A junior from Gate City, Virginia, McClung leads the Big 12 with 21.0 points per conference game and is second overall at 17.2 points per game for the season. He has recorded seven games of 20 or more points, including five in conference play and made four 3-pointers in the games against Baylor and WVU. Transferring to Tech this season from Georgetown, McClung comes into Saturday's game needing only 15 points to reach 1,000 in his career after averaging 22.0 in the past five games. He scored his season-high 30 points at WVU by going 11-for-21 from the field (4-for-7 on 3-pointers) and also was 4-for-5 at the free-throw line. He tops the Big 12 with 70 made free throws where he is 70-fo-86 (81.4 percent). McClung was the first 30-plus scorer for Tech since Jarrett Culver had 31 points in the 2018-19 regular-season finale. Culver had two 30-plus games in that season after Keenan Evans had 31 at South Carolina in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge in 2018. Evans has the Beard-era high of 38 points against Texas on Jan. 31, 2018. Along with his scoring, McClung had three assists against the Mountaineers and is averaging 2.4 per game (39 total) through 16 games. He is shooting 35.4 percent on 3-pointers with 29 makes this season and 99 through 66 games in his career. McClung was named the Big 12 Player of the Week on Jan. 18 after hitting the game-winning shot against the Longhorns.
Shannon was named an Erving Award Finalist on Wednesday and comes into the matchup against LSU averaging 12.9 points and 5.2 rebounds per game. A Chicago, Illinois native, Shannon is coming off a game at West Virginia where he had 15 points and eight rebounds to take his Big 12 averages to 14.8 points and 6.0 rebounds per game. He scored a season-high 22 points in the home win over Kansas State where he was 5-for-9 from the field and 11-for-12 at the free-throw line. Shannon is playing a sixth-man role after starting the first 10 games and averages 30.4 minutes per game in Big 12 play which is the second most on the team. He has scored in double figures in 12 of 15 games played with a 21-point performance at Oklahoma and 20 points against Kansas on his sophomore resume. Shannon has scored 478 points and has 198 rebounds through 44 games in his collegiate career. He scored a career-high 24 points as a freshman last season at DePaul and also had an 11-rebound performance at Kansas during his first year with the Red Raiders. He had a season-high nine rebounds in the 20-point game against the Jayhawks in this year's conference opener.
McCullar leads Tech with 8.0 rebounds per game in Big 12 play and is averaging 9.9 points and 7.3 rebounds through seven games played this season. A redshirt sophomore, McCullar missed the first nine games of the season with an injury suffered in preseason practice but has returned to prove that he is one of the most versatile players in the Big 12. He is coming off an eight-rebound performance at West Virginia where he also led the team in assists for the second straight game. He scored a career-high 16 points at Texas by going 6-for-7 from the field with two 3-pointers and has double-doubles with 15 points/11 rebounds at Iowa State and 10/10 against Baylor. A third-year player from San Antonio, McCullar redshirted his first season when the Red Raiders advanced to the Final Four and played in 29 games last year. His four assists at WVU on Monday were a career high and gives him 13 this season.
Santos-Silva is the team's only senior and comes into this weekend with 970 points, 717 rebound and 111 blocks through 113 games played. A grad transfer from VCU, Santos-Silva is averaging 8.9 points and 6.1 rebounds in his first season at Tech and leads the team with 1.2 blocks per game (19 total). He is coming off a game against West Virginia where he scored nine point after he had 11 rebounds and eight points against Baylor. In Big 12 play, he is averaging 9.3 points and 5.0 rebounds per game that includes a season-high 14 points in the home win over Kansas State. A Taunton, Massachusetts native, he had a career-high four blocks against Abilene Christian and Oklahoma State this season. At VCU, he scored a career-high 26 points in games against Rhode Island and George Mason and had a career-best 22 rebounds in a monster double-double against Rhode Island. He is shooting 61.7 percent this season which is the highest in his four-year collegiate career.
Edwards comes into the game averaging 10.0 points per game after scoring eight points at West Virginia and leads the Red Raiders with 41 assists this season. A junior from Arlington, Edwards scored a season-high 19 points in games against Iowa State and Abilene Christian and had a career-high seven assists in the season opener against Northwestern State. He is tied for the team lead with McClung with both juniors having 29 made 3-pointers this season. He recorded the first double-double of his career with 13 points and 11 rebounds in non-conference play against Grambling on Dec. 6 at home and had a nine-rebound performance in the road win at Oklahoma. Edwards was 2-for-4 on 3-pointers against West Virginia and has made 108 in his career. A third-year player for the Red Raiders, Edwards appeared as a reserve in all 38 games as freshman during the Final Four run and started all 31 last season as a reserve. He has now scored 722 points, has 178 assists and 292 rebounds through 85 games of his career. Edwards and McClung were both named Big 12 Preseason Honorable Mention.
Peavy has started 15 of 16 games as a freshman and is averaging 5.9 points, 1.4 assists and 2.9 rebounds for the Red Raiders after going for six points and two rebounds at WVU. He also scored six points and had five rebounds against Baylor. Named the Class 6A Player of the Year and a state champion at Duncanville HS, Peavy has made an immediate impact for the Red Raiders including scoring 14 points against Northwestern State in the season opener. He has scored in double figures three times, including 12 points against Houston and A&M-Corpus Christi. Peavy is currently averaging 4.9 points per conference game and has a career-high six rebound on his resume that came against Kansas. A junior transfer from Wichita State, Burton has started four games and played 12 as a reserve in his first season with the Red Raiders. He is coming off a game at WVU where he had nine points and five rebounds and is currently averaging 4.9 points and 2.1 rebounds for the season. He had a season-high 10 points in the non-conference win over Grambling and also had a nine-point performance at Iowa State in Big 12 action. Burton had 126 assists as a freshman and 102 as a sophomore for the Shockers and is currently averaging 1.4 assists this season. Through 83 games of his collegiate career, Burton has 608 points, 251 assists and 263 rebounds.
Benson missed the game at WVU due to an injury suffered in practice during the postponements and is listed as day-to-day. A junior from Arkansas, Benson is 4-for-6 on 3-pointers this season and is averaging 1.6 points in 12 games played this year. He is the only player on the roster who was with the program during the runs to the 2018 Elite, 2019 Big 12 Championship and 2019 Final Four. He scored a career-high 10 points last season against No. 1 Louisville at the Jimmy V Classic in Madison Square Garden. Nadolny is in his sophomore season and is averaging 1.8 points per game after scoring three at WVU. A guard from France, he has played in 11 games this season and 35 in his two seasons with the Red Raiders. He has a career-high nine points against Houston Baptist last season as a freshman and scored six against Corpus for a season-high earlier this year in the game that was played in Frisco. He had a career-high three assists on Monday against the Mountaineers.
Smith is playing in his first season after redshirting last season, while Chibuzo Agbo and Vladislav Goldin are true freshmen on the roster. A Baton Rouge native, Smith returns to his hometown this weekend averaging 2.6 points and 2.2 rebounds per game. He scored a season-high seven points in the non-conference wins over Northwestern State and Troy and has a Big 12 high of four points against Kansas and Oklahoma State. Smith is second on the team with 13 blocked shots, including a career-high three blocks against Troy. Agbo hit a 3-pointer at WVU and is now averaging 1.7 points per game this season, while Goldin has not played since the game at Iowa State. The tallest player on Tech's roster at 7-foot-1, Goldin is averaging 2.8 points and 1.5 rebounds in six games played this season.
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 eight times this season after only having two at West Virginia. In the loss to Baylor, Tech committed a season-high 20 turnovers before responding by matching the Big 12 single-game record. The Red Raiders are currently averaging only 10.9 turnovers per game which is the second in the Big 12 and 25th nationally. In Big 12 play, Tech also had only seven turnovers against Texas and Kansas, nine in the win over Kansas State and 10 at Iowa State. Tech had only one turnover at halftime against the Cyclones to get out to a 24-point lead. In non-conference play, Tech had only four turnovers against Corpus Christi which was the low in the Beard era. During his five seasons, Tech has committed 10 or less turnovers 59 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 plus-6.5 turnover margin which is fourth nationally.
FORCING THE ISSUE: Texas Tech forced 30 turnovers against Grambling for the most since the 2009 season opener against South Dakota. In the past four games, the Red Raiders forced 16 against Baylor after 15 turnovers at Texas and Iowa State. WVU committed 12 turnovers to give the Red Raiders a plus-10 advantage in that stat column. Tech has recorded 13 steals in two games this season, against Grambling and Northwestern State. The team had seven steals against the Mountaineers. 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.
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.
BLOCK PARTY: The Red Raiders are currently 27th nationally and lead the Big 12 with 69 total blocks after having a season-high nine blocks against Baylor but only one at WVU. McCullar and McClung both had career-high block totals in the game against the Bears with four and three blocks, respectively. Santos-Silva leads the team with 19 blocks and Smith has 13. Tech is averaging 4.5 blocks per game this season after having 4.0 per game last year.
SHARING THE WEALTH: Texas Tech is averaging 12.9 assists per game after 14 on 34 makes at WVU. The team has seven games with 15 or more assists. Tech had a season-high 25 assists in the opener against Northwestern State. Edwards has the individual high this season with seven in that game against NSU. McCullar led the Red Raiders with three assists against Baylor and then again at WVU with four.
STIFLING STARTS: The Texas Tech defense has been strong throughout the first 16 games, but especially solid in the first half where it has outscored its first 16 opponents by a combined 575-448 margin. TTU and WVU were tied at 39 for the first tie at halftime this season for the Red Raiders. Tech had trailed by as many as 10 to the Mountaineers before squaring it going into the locker room. The Longhorns were an anomaly, outscoring the Red Raiders by a 48-38 margin before Tech made its second-half comeback for the win. Only six of the first 16 opponents have scored over 30 points through the opening 20 minutes of games. ACU was limited to only 14 points in the opening 20 minutes and Sam Houston was at 15. The 14 points scored by ACU at the break was the lowest since Northwestern State was held to 10 points at halftime in 2018.
OUR LEADER: Beard is in his fifth season as the Texas Tech head coach where he has led the program to a 105-49 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 135-54 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). Beard is now 200-77 as an NCAA head coach.