PREVIEW: Nebraska

KANSAS CITY – Texas Tech will play No. 25 Nebraska at 8:30 p.m. on Tuesday in the Hall of Fame Classic Championship at the Sprint Center after earning a 78-63 win over Southern Cal on Monday where they overcame a nine-point halftime deficit. The Red Raiders trailed the Trojans by as many as 13 in the first half but would respond by outscoring them by a 55-31 margin after shooting 16-for-20 in the second half.

Texas Tech (4-0) and Nebraska (4-0) will meet for the first time since 2011 with the Cornhuskers owning a 16-10 all-time advantage in the series. Nebraska is coming off an 85-62 win over Missouri State in its first game in the Hall of Fame Classic with Isaac Copeland Jr. leading the team with 23 points and seven rebounds. The Cornhuskers shot 50.8 percent from the field, including going 13-for-33 on 3-pointers in the game. The Red Raiders are looking to win a regular-season tournament title for the second straight season after winning the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame Tournament title last season with an 85-49 win over No. 20 Northwestern on Nov. 19, 2017 in Uncasville, Conn. Nebraska is the first ranked opponent for the Red Raiders this season and comes a year after Tech went 8-5 against opposition in the polls.

The game will be broadcasted on ESPN2 with Clay Matvick and Jon Sundvold calling the nationally televised game. Geoff Haxton and Clark Lammert have the radio call from Kansas City with the game being carried on Texas Tech Sports Network's flagship station Double T 97.3 in Lubbock. Fans can interact with the broadcast by following @GunsUpRadio on Twitter.

Jarrett Culver is coming off a night where he had 18 points, five assists, three steals and nine rebounds against the Trojans. He leads the Red Raiders with 16.8 points per game and is also averaging 4.5 assists and 5.0 rebounds. He scored a season-high 21 points last Tuesday against Southeastern Louisiana when he went 8-for-12 from the field and also added four assists and four rebounds. Against USC, Culver was 5-for-10 from the field and matched a career-high with seven free throws. He scored 13 points and had seven rebounds in the second half Culver has scored in double-digits in each of the first four games this season. A Lubbock native, he was named to the Jerry West Award Watch List and a Big 12 Preseason Honorable Mention selection before the season and has now scored in double-digits in 24 games in his career.

Tariq Owens recorded 18 points and four rebounds in the win over USC on Monday where he shot 7-for-10 from the field and was 3-for-3 at the free-throw line. He came into the week sixth in the nation with 10 blocks after starting the season with six in the opener against Incarnate Word. A graduate transfer from St. John's, Owens led the BIG EAST in blocks the past two seasons and is currently averaging 8.8 points, 2.8 blocks and 3.8 rebounds per game for the Red Raiders. Owens has recorded 189 career blocks coming into Tuesday's game against Nebraska. Matt Mooney was 5-for-5 with two 3-pointers in the second half against USC and finished with 15 of his second 17 points coming after halftime. Mooney hit two 3-pointers against the Trojans to help spark the comeback. He came into the week fourth in the Big 12 with 16 assists and is now averaging 11.0 points, 5.0 assists and 4.5 rebounds per game. He added four assists to his season total on Tuesday night and now has 20 through four games as a Red Raider. Mooney is a graduate transfer from South Dakota who has scored 1,524 points in his career that started at Air Force. He had a previous season-high 12 points in the opener against UIW and recorded six assists in the first two games.

Davide Moretti matched a career-high with 17 points on Monday with 13 coming in the second half. A guard from Italy, Moretti also scored 17 points against MVSU when he knocked down five 3-pointers and would knock down two more against the Trojans. He is averaging 12.8 points and 3.3 assists per game for the Red Raiders this season and has scored in double digits in two of the four games. He came into this season after only having two double-digit scoring performances last season, including a career-high 14 points against Florida Atlantic. He is currently shooting 48.5 percent from the field and leads the team with eight 3-pointers.

Texas Tech senior Norense Odiase recorded a career-high 13 rebounds in the win over Southeastern Louisiana last week and now has 387 in his career. A Fort Worth native, Odiase is in his fifth season in Lubbock and has 31 rebounds this season. He is averaging 7.8 rebounds and 5.5 points per game to start his senior season and has recorded two double-digit rebound performances this season after also having 10 in the win over Mississippi Valley State in the second game of the season. He now has six double-digit rebounding performances in his career, including the first of 92 games he has played in at Tech with 10 rebounds against Loyola Maryland on Nov. 14, 2014.

Sophomore transfer Deshawn Corprew is leading the Tech reserves with 7.0 points and 3.8 rebounds per game, while senior Brandone Francis is averaging 4.5 points and 3.0 rebounds and freshman Kyler Edwards is at 5.5 points per game to start his career. Corprew transferred to Tech after playing one season at South Plains College and scored a season-high 11 points against MVSU where he also had eight rebounds. He had four points in 13 minutes on Monday against USC Francis opened his senior season with 13 points against UIW with two 3-pointers, while Edwards went for 10 in his college debut against the Cardinals. An Arlington native, Edwards is shooting 47.4 percent from the field coming into Tuesday's game.

SHOTTRACKER TECHNOLOGY: For the first time ever in Division I men's college basketball, teams competing at the 2018 Hall of Fame Classic Powered by ShotTracker will have access to ShotTracker's live stats and analytics on the benches during game play. The NCAA has granted a waiver that will allow coaches for Missouri State, Nebraska, Texas Tech and USC to utilize the ShotTracker Team app on iPads for coaching purposes during the Hall of Fame Classic championship round games. The use of technology on team benches during competition is currently not permitted by NCAA men's basketball playing rules. The NCAA waiver will make the Hall of Fame Classic the first set of games in Division I history where coaches will have access to real-time advanced analytics on a handheld device during live competition. Each student-athlete will wear a ShotTracker sensor, and games will be played with a ShotTracker-enabled Wilson basketball. ShotTracker teamed up with Wilson Sporting Goods - the official ball of the Hall of Fame Classic and one of the industry leaders in advanced connected basketball technologies - to ensure an embedded smart sensor will be undetectable in game play.

UP NEXT: The Red Raiders will return from Kansas City to host Northern Colorado in a post-Thanksgiving matchup on Saturday, Nov. 24 at the United Supermarkets Arena. Texas Tech has currently won 41 straight non-conference home games after starting the season with a 3-0 record on their home court. Texas Tech will then play Memphis on Saturday, Dec. 1 at the Hoophall Invitational in Miami before a three-game home stand against Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Northwestern State and Abilene Christian.

Let's bring home a ??. #4To1

??#WreckEm?? pic.twitter.com/0J2zK4GvxF
— Texas Tech Basketball (@TexasTechMBB) November 20, 2018

Players Mentioned

Brandone Francis

Deshawn Corprew

Jarrett Culver

Kyler Edwards

Matt Mooney

Davide Moretti

Norense Odiase

Tariq Owens

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