PREVIEW: Southern Mississippi

LUBBOCK, Texas – Texas Tech will begin a five-game home stand when it hosts Southern Mississippi at 6 p.m. on Monday at the United Supermarkets Arena where it has won 11 straight dating back to last season.

The Red Raiders (6-3) are coming off knocking off No. 1-ranked Louisville at Madison Square Garden in New York and comes into the game against the Golden Eagles (3-8) on a 51-game non-conference home winning streak. Southern Miss (Conference USA) will host North Florida at 2 p.m. on Saturday in Hattiesburg, Mississippi before traveling to Lubbock to play the Red Raiders for the third time in the series history. Tech, which has played its last four games on the road and without leading scorer Jahmi'us Ramsey due to injury in the last three games, is 2-0 all-time against the Golden Eagles with the last meeting coming with Tech earning a 96-79 win back on Nov. 22, 1996. Southern Miss is coming off a 72-69 loss to North Florida on Saturday and is led by head coach Jay Ladner who was at Southeastern Louisiana last season. The Red Raiders earned a 59-40 win over Ladner's team last season on Nov. 13, 2018 to improve to 3-0 on the season.

The Red Raiders, who are playing six freshmen and eight underclassmen this season, are led by Chris Beard who is 82-34 in his fourth season. He was named the 2019 Associated Press National Coach of the Year along with earning Big 12 Coach of the Year the past two seasons. In the eighth season as a head coach in the NCAA, Beard has a 73.6 winning percentage which ranks eighth nationally among active coaches.

Texas Tech is 4-0 at home this season with a 26.3 scoring margin of victory in those games by scoring 83.0 points per game, shooting 47.7 percent from the field and limiting opponents to only 36.7 percent shooting. The Red Raiders ended last year on a seven-game home winning streak on the way to earning the Big 12 regular-season championship and has rolled to home-court victories over Eastern Illinois, Bethune-Cookman, Tennessee State and Long Island to start this year.

GAME COVERAGE: The game between Texas Tech and Southern Mississippi will be broadcasted on ESPN2 with Rich Hollenberg and Chris Spatola on the call and on the Texas Tech Sports Network's flagship station Double T 97.3 in Lubbock with Geoff Haxton and Chris Level. Fans can also find the game on any streaming device by using the FOX Sports Go app and can follow the game at @TexasTechMBB. Texas Tech is 1-0 in games on ESPN networks this season.

STREAKING: Texas Tech has won 51 straight non-conference home games after its 96-66 win over LIU before its three-week, four-game road trip. The team came into the season following a 67-64 win over Arkansas to complete a 9-0 mark in those games last year. TTU started the streak with a 100-69 win over St. Mary's on Dec. 30, 2013. Chris Beard is 32-0 in non-conference home games as the team's head coach. Butler leads the nation with a 56-game non-conference home winning streak after knocking off Florida last Saturday. Duke had the previous active record at 150 games before falling to SFA on Nov. 27 at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

LAST TIME OUT: The Red Raiders improved to 1-6 all-time against No. 1-ranked opponents with a 70-57 win over Louisville on Tuesday, Dec. 10 at Madison Square Garden. Davide Moretti led Tech with 18 points after going 8-for-8 at the free-throw line while freshman Terrence Shannon, Jr. added 13 points. Off the bench, redshirt sophomore Avery Benson scored a career-high 10 points and added four rebounds and two blocked shots for the Red Raiders who limited the previously unbeaten Cardinals to only 34.0 percent shooting from the field and to 3-for-17 on 3-pointers. The Red Raiders snapped a three-game losing skid with the victory after falling to Iowa, Creighton and DePaul following starting the season with five wins.

POLL REPORT: After dropping two games in Las Vegas, Texas Tech fell out of the Associated Press Top 25 after being ranked No. 12 the previous week. The Red Raiders were ranked as high as No. 11 two weeks ago and No. 13 in the preseason poll. A new AP Top 25 Poll will be released on Monday morning.

STAT RANKINGS: Through games played on Dec. 12, Texas Tech is ranked fourth in the NCAA with 18.3 assists per game and ranks second in the Big 12 with 40.3 rebounds per game. The Red Raiders are third in the conference by scoring 78.0 points per game and are limiting opponents to 39.3 percent shooting which currently ranks fifth in the conference. Individually, Davide Moretti is third in the nation at 97.0 percent from the free-throw line and Chris Clarke is 34th nationally with 53 total assists through nine games. Clarke leads the Big 12 with 6.33 defensive rebounds per game after having 12 against Louisville and his 2.41 assist-to-turnover ratio is fifth in the conference. Tech has a 13.8 scoring margin of victory with all six wins coming in double figures. The team beat Bethune-Cookman by 35 for a season-high and the 13-point victory over No. 1 Louisville came by limiting the Cardinals to 34.0 percent shooting which was 14 percent less than their season average.

PLAYER NOTES: Texas Tech is led by junior Davide Moretti who has competed in 84 games with the Red Raiders and graduate transfers Chris Clarke and TJ Holyfield who bring experience to a team that has seven freshmen on the roster. Moretti, who is on the Bob Cousy Award Watch List, led the team with 18 points against Louisville after knocking down two 3-pointers and going 8-for-8 at the free-throw line. He is now averaging 14.2 points per game and has made a 3-pointer in eight of nine games. Moretti is the NCAA active leader in free-throw percentage at 92.2 percent (153 of 166) and is currently 32 of 33 from the line this season. He led the nation at 92.4 percent last season where he averaged 11.5 points per game as a sophomore. Moretti was named to the All-Big 12 Third Team and was the NCAA Elite 90 winner last season where he led the Red Raiders with 73 3-pointers made. He scored a career-high 23 points earlier this season against Creighton where he was 8-for-19 from the field with three 3-pointer. He had a season-best four 3-pointers against Tennessee State which was one behind his career-high of five 3-pointers last season against Mississippi Valley State. Moretti comes into Monday's game having scored 694 points and with 119 3-pointers made in his career.

Clarke is coming off a 12-rebound, six-assist performance against Louisville along with scoring seven points. A grad transfer from Virginia Tech who was named the Big 12 Preseason Newcomer of the Year, Clarke is third in the Big 12 with 5.9 assists and fourth with 8.8 rebounds per game this season. He has recorded double-digit rebounding performances in four games this season including two straight after having 11 rebounds against DePaul and has Tech's only double-double with an 11/10 performance against Iowa. A 6-foot-6 guard from Virginia Beach, Virginia, Clarke scored a season-best 17 points against Creighton after going 8-for-14 from the field and also had seven rebounds and three assists in the game. He is currently shooting 46.8 percent from the field. He leads the Red Raiders with 22 offensive rebounds coming into the game against Southern Miss and has a 2.4 assist-to-turnover ratio. When combining stats from Virginia Tech, Clarke has 263 assists, 596 rebounds and 783 points through 88 career games.

TJ Holyfield transferred to Tech as a graduate transfer from SFA and has been named to the Oscar Robertson Award Watch List. A 6-foot-8 forward from Albuquerque, New Mexico, Holyfield earned Big 12 Newcomer of the Week on Nov. 11 after scoring 20 points against Bethune-Cookman and 15 in the season-opener against Eastern Illinois. A starter in all nine games this season, Holyfield is averaging 9.9 points and 4.2 rebounds per game after scoring eight in the win over Louisville. He leads the Red Raiders by shooting 59.3 percent after knocking down 35 of his first 59 shots this season and had a career-high seven rebounds in the win over Long Island. Holyfield scored a season-best 21 points in the win over Houston Baptist where he was 9-for-10 from the field and also had 10 points against Iowa. When combining his stats from SFA, Holyfield has scored 1,170 points and has secured 633 rebounds in his collegiate career.

Terrence Shannon, Jr. followed his career-high of 24 points at DePaul with 13 points in the win over Louisville last week and is now averaging 11.6 points and 4.3 rebounds through the first nine games of his collegiate career. A freshman from Chicago, Shannon has started all nine games for the Red Raiders and has scored in double figures in five of those games. In his hometown of Chicago, Shannon went off for his career-best 24 points after going 9-for-18 from the field and was 4-for-5 at the free-throw line. He also grabbed eight rebounds against the Blue Demons which was one shy of his season-high of nine rebounds against Iowa on Nov. 28 in Las Vegas. A 6-foot-6 guard, Shannon is shooting 41.6 percent from the field and is 35-for-42 at the line coming into the game against Southern Miss. Against the Cardinals at MSG, he was 4-for-9 from the field and went 5 of 6 at the free-throw line.

Kyler Edwards is averaging 10.6 points, 3.7 assists and 5.4 rebounds per game through nine games and nine starts to begin his sophomore season. A guard from Arlington, Edwards played a reserve role in all 38 games during Tech's historic run to the final Monday night of the college basketball season as a freshman and has elevated his game in his second season. He is coming off scoring nine points and having four rebounds in the win over Louisville to snap a streak of six straight games in double-figure scoring. He scored a season-high 15 points earlier this season against Houston Baptist where he hit three 3-pointers and also had 14 points against Creighton. He has made 11 3-pointers through nine games and is currently 18-for-21 at the free-throw line. Edwards is coming off a freshman season where he averaged 5.5 points per game, including scoring a career-high 19 points against Northern Colorado where he was 7-for-7 from the field with four 3-pointers and also went for 12 points in the NCAA National Championship Final against Virginia with two 3-pointers. In the game against Creighton he grabbed a career-best eight rebounds after he had matched a career-high with six assists against Long Island. He had 12 points in the loss at DePaul on Dec. 4 in Chicago and comes into Monday's game against the Golden Eagles having made a 3-pointer in five straight games and in seven or nine. He finished last season making at least one 3-pointer in five straight NCAA tournament games.

Jahmi'us Ramsey has not played in the past three games after suffering a left hamstring injury against Iowa on Nov. 28 in Las Vegas. He is listed as day-to-day. Ramsey leads the Red Raiders with 17.3 points per game and is also adding 6.0 rebounds, 1.5 steals and 1.5 assists to begin his freshman season. A 6-foot-4 guard from Arlington, Texas, Ramsey helped lead Duncanville High School to the Class 6A State Championship by averaging 21 points per game in his senior season and has continued to dominate as he steps up to the collegiate level. Prior to Las Vegas, Ramsey scored a season-high 27 points and had six rebounds in a win over Long Island that earned him Big 12 Newcomer of the Week honors. He has scored in double figures in five of six games played, including scoring 25 against Houston Baptist where he was 10-for-13 from the field with three 3-pointers. In his 27-point outpouring, Ramsey was 5-for-6 from beyond the arc against LIU. He is also proving to be strong rebounder from the guard position, pulling down a season-high nine in the win over Bethune-Cookman and having four or more rebounds in all six games he's played in.

Avery Benson is coming off a career performance where he had 10 points, four rebounds and two blocked shots against Louisville. A redshirt sophomore from Arkansas, Benson was 3-for-3 from the field against the Cardinals in 22 minutes of play. He hit the first shot of the game for the Red Raiders with a 3-pointer and also had a big block at the buzzer to take the game into halftime with three-point lead. Benson has now played in 29 games during his career and is currently averaging 3.8 points per game this season. His previous career-high in scoring was with six points against DePaul and Bethune-Cookman earlier this season. Along with Benson, the Red Raiders continue to get contributions from freshmen Kevin McCullar, Andrei Savrasov, Clarence Nadolny and Russel Tchewa. Following a redshirt season last year, McCullar and Savrasov are playing important roles off the bench this year with McCullar averaging 4.0 points per game and Savrasov at 1.4 rebounds and 1.4 points per game. McCullar scored a career-high 10 points earlier this season against Long Island after having seven against Tennessee State. Savrasov scored his season-best with six points against Creighton after hitting a pair of 3-pointers in the second half to help force overtime and had three points against Louisville. Nadolny and Tchewa have each played in all nine games this season with Nadolny scoring a season-high nine points in the win over HBU, while Tchewa scored six against Eastern Illinois and LIU. A 7-foot center from Cameroon, Tchewa had one block and two rebounds against Louisville.

COACHING STAFF: The Red Raiders are led by head coach Chris Beard who is in his fourth season. Beard was named the Associated Press National Coach of the Year last season along with earning Big 12 Coach of the Year for the second consecutive season. Beard has led the Red Raiders to an 82-34 record coming into the game against Southern Mississippi. Beard is joined on the coaching bench by assistant coaches Mark Adams, Brian Burg and Ulric Maligi, Tim MacAllister (Chief of Staff), Bob Donewald (Player Development), Sean Sutton (Executive Advisor), John Reilly (Strength & Conditioning), Mike Neal (Athletic Trainer) and graduate assistants Casey Perrin, Ronald Ross, Matt Temple, Elliott De Wit, Khristian Smith, Joey Kuhl, Rusty Grafel and Mike Fallone, Jr. Adams was named the TABC Assistant Coach of the Year last season for his role in helping Beard and the Red Raiders reach the national championship final. Burg was listed by The Athletic as one of the top rising assistants in the game as he enters his fourth season at Tech and fifth with Beard after also being at Little Rock with Beard and Adams. Maligi is in his first season at Texas Tech after working at Texas A&M last year. Neal is also new to the program, joining the Red Raiders after working at Little Rock where he was also a player before going into athletic training. Adams and Burg were previously on Beard's staff at Little Rock along with athletic trainer Mike Neal who is in his first season at Tech. MacAllister was named to the NABC 30 Under 30 list after last year and enters his second season with the Red Raiders. Along with being 18 wins away from 100 at Tech, Beard is 178-64 as a collegiate head coach after prior leadership at Little Rock, Angelo State and McMurry.

SPANNING THE GLOBE: The Red Raiders are represented by eight players by five international players: Moretti (Italy), Nadolny (France), Ntambwe (Congo), Savrasov (Russia) and Tchewa (Cameroon). The program his two players from Arlington, Texas in Kyler Edwards and Jahmi'us Ramsey, Kevin McCullar is from San Antonio and four from out of state: Avery Benson (Arkansas), TJ Holyfield (New Mexico), Tyreek Smith (Louisiana) and Terrence Shannon, Jr. (Illinois). Ntambwe will redshirt this season after having his transfer waiver denied by the NCAA, while Smith has not played his season after suffering an injury during the preseason.

SIGNING CLASS: Beard announced the signings of Chibuzo Agbo, Nimari Burnett and Micah Peavy to their national letter of intent for the 2020-21 academic year on November 13. The trio of talented recruits is ranked No. 5 nationally by Rivals.com and join a program that has advanced to the 2018 Elite Eight and to the 2019 NCAA National Championship Final over the past two season. Agbo signs with Texas Tech as a 4-star prospect by Rivals and 247Sports after being named the 2019 Western League Player of the Year playing for Saint Augustine High School. He enters his senior season as the 2019-20 San Diego Preseason Player of the Year after averaging 20 points and 9.0 rebounds per game and shooting 42.0 percent on 3-pointers as a junior. He is currently ranked No.70 by 247Sports and No. 87 nationally by Rivals. Agbo chose Texas Tech over USC and was also recruited by Arizona, Cal, San Diego State and Marquette. Burnett is the highest rated recruit to sign in Texas Tech basketball history with a 5-star ranking by ESPN, Rivals and 247Sports. A Chicago, Illinois native, Burnett is ranked No. 19 nationally in the 2020 signing class by ESPN, No. 22 by Rivals and No. 28 in the 247Sports rankings. Peavy helped lead Duncanville High School to a Class 6A State Championship last season as a junior where he averaged 16 points and 6.6 rebounds per game. He signs with Texas Tech as a 4-star prospect by ESPN, Rivals and 247Sports and is the No. 2-ranked prospect in Texas according to Mike Kunstadt's Texas Hoops. Peavy is the No. 32-ranked player in the nation by ESPN and No. 34 by Rivals.

DEPARTURES: Texas Tech is in the process of developing a team that replaces the winningest team in program history that is now without Jarrett Culver, Matt Mooney, Tariq Owens, Brandone Francis and Norense Odiase. Culver declared for the NBA Draft after his sophomore season and was selected No. 6 overall. After leading the Red Raiders with 18.5 points per and 6.4 rebounds per game and earning Big 12 Player of the Year and Consensus All-America honors, Culver is now on the Minnesota Timberwolves. Mooney was the team's third leading scorer behind Culver and Moretti and is now with the Memphis Hustle in the G-League, while Owens established a new program single-season record with 92 blocked shots and is with Odiase on the Northern Arizona Suns (G-League). Francis was a member of the 2018 Elite Eight run and 2019 runner-up team and is on the Iowa Wolves roster. Along with players from last year's team, Max Lefevre is now with the Timberwolves working in video and athletic trainer Chris Williams joined the Timberwolves and Iowa Wolves athletic training staff.

OVERTIME GAMES: With back-to-back overtime losses against DePaul (65-60) and Creighton (83-76), Texas Tech is now 51-51 all-time in overtime contests and 4-5 under coach Beard. The Red Raiders were 1-1 in overtime last season with an 84-80 overtime win over Oklahoma in conference play before falling 85-77 in overtime to Virginia in the championship final. Tech has had back-to-back overtime games twice now under Beard after falling to West Virginia and Iowa State in the 2016-17 season on Feb. 18 and 20. The program has had four occasions of back-to-back overtime games with the only time that three straight games have gone to overtime coming in the 1984-85 season against Nebraska, Colorado and New Mexico State.

RADIO SHOW: The Chris Beard Radio Show will make its debut at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 9, 2020 at Rudy's and will once again be hosted by Geoff Haxton. Show dates for the season are Jan. 9, Jan. 16, Jan. 23, Jan. 30, Feb. 6 and Feb. 13.

PROMOS: The first 10,000 fans in attendance will receive a free Red Raider Basketball Looney Tunes print and season ticket holders with a perfect swipe through the first four games will receive a Fireside Chat coffee mug at the south concourse.

WE PUBLISHED A BOOK: The story of the 2018-19 season has been chronicled in a commemorative book titled Raider Power: Texas Tech's Journey From Unranked to the Final Four. The Texas Tech Athletic Communications Office produced book is filled with images from our photographers and stories from throughout the season. The book is available now online and in stores. It is published by the TTU Press.

UP NEXT: Texas Tech will return to action at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 21 against UTRGV and then on Sunday, Dec. 29 against Cal State Bakersfield before beginning Big 12 play. The Red Raiders are 6-0 over UTRGV after earning a 71-46 win over the Vaqueros last season and are 1-0 over CSU Bakersfield. The team will open conference play on Saturday, Jan. 4 against Oklahoma State and on Tuesday, Jan. 7 against Baylor at the USA.

Join @CoachBeardTTU as we break down Tuesday's win in NYC and break down Monday night's matchup with Southern Miss on Bench Talk With Beard!

??#4To1 | #WreckEm?? pic.twitter.com/qiVBSHIWbd
— Texas Tech Basketball (@TexasTechMBB) December 13, 2019

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Players Mentioned

Brandone Francis

Avery Benson

Chris Clarke

Jarrett Culver

Kyler Edwards

TJ Holyfield

Kevin McCullar

Matt Mooney

Davide Moretti

Clarence Nadolny

Norense Odiase

Tariq Owens

Jahmi'us Ramsey

Andrei Savrasov

Terrence Shannon, Jr.

Tyreek Smith

Russel Tchewa

Texas Tech University Athletics