Texas Tech's Mark Adams named Naismith coach of the year semifinalist
Texas Tech's Mark Adams was named a Naismith men's coach of the year semifinalist Thursday.
The list of 10 is slated to be narrowed down to the finalists on March 18.
The No. 14 Red Raiders enter the postseason with a 23-8 overall record and finished third in the Big 12 with a 12-6 conference record.
Following the regular season, Adams garnered Associated Press Big 12 Coach of the Year honors. Texas Tech is ranked as the top defensive team in the nation according to Kenpom.com, while the Red Raiders finished the season 18-0 at home and recorded seven wins over ranked opponents.
The other semifinalists are Kentucky's John Calipari, Providence's Ed Cooley, Baylor's Scott Drew, Wake Forest's Steve Forbes, Wisconsin's Greg Gard, Arizona's Tommy Lloyd, Murray State's Matt McMahon, Auburn's Bruce Pearl and Houston's Kelvin Sampson.
The Big 12 and SEC are the only two conferences with two coaches named semifinalists.
Adams is in his first season as the program's head coach after five seasons as the associate head coach. Tech was unranked to begin the season and rose as high as No. 9 in the national rankings. The Red Raiders swept Baylor and Texas during the regular season, which included topping the Bears when they were No. 1 in the nation.
It marked the second win over a top-ranked opponent in program history.
The Red Raiders took on Iowa State on Thursday night in a Big 12 tournament quarterfinal in Kansas City. The game finished after the A-J's print deadline.
For a full recap, visit www.lubbockonline.com.
Baseball
No. 15 Texas Tech, which has won 10 of its past 11 games, continues a road trip with three games against Rice at Reckling Park in Houston.
The Red Raiders (11-3) and the Owls (3-10) are scheduled for games at 6:30 p.m. Friday, 2 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday. Rice has lost five of its past six games and is 2-7 at home this year.
Tech plans to stick with its same starting rotation for the fourth weekend in a row, sending out Andrew Morris (1-0, 6.28 earned-run average) on Friday, Brandon Birdsell (2-1, 2.57) on Saturday and Mason Molina (1-1, 3.00) on Sunday.
Rice will pitch righthanders Cooper Chandler (0-3, 7.30) in the series opener and Roel Garcia (0-0, 5.31) in the second game. The Owls haven't announced their Sunday starter.
Third baseman Parker Kelly is batting .405 with five home runs, 19 runs batted in and a .786 slugging percentage, leading the Red Raiders in each of those categories. Kelly has hit all five of his home runs, three of them grand slams, in the past five games.
Shortstop Kurt Wilson (.333-2-17), right fielder Owen Washburn (.354-2-14) and second baseman Jace Jung (.365-3-13) are next behind Kelly in RBI.
Women's tennis
No. 34 Texas Tech opens Big 12 play with matches at 3 p.m. Friday at No. 8 Texas and 1 p.m. Sunday at No. 33 Baylor.
Tech (7-4) is coming off a 4-2 victory Sunday at SMU. Texas (9-3) has a 31-match win streak in Big 12 regular-season duels, its last such loss coming in April 2017 against Baylor.
Baylor (9-4) is on a three-match win streak going into its conference opener Friday against TCU and has won seven of its past eight duels.
Men's tennis
No. 33 Texas Tech will take a five-match win streak into its first road competition since mid-February when the Red Raiders play from Friday through Sunday in the Arizona State spring break tournament.
Tech (10-5) is seeded second in the eight-team field and opens Friday against Penn State (6-5). Princeton is the top seed. The other teams are Arizona State, Idaho, Michigan State, Tulane and Wichita State.