PREVIEW: Cal State Bakersfield

Sunday, December 29

Lubbock, Texas

3 p.m.

Texas Tech Athletics

CSU Bakersfield

December 27, 2019 | Men's Basketball

PRESS CONFERENCE GAME NOTES RADIO WATCH NCAA STATS Follow @TexasTechMBB

No. 23 Red Raiders vs. CSU Bakersfield | 3 p.m., Sunday | TV: FSSW+ Radio: TTSN | Lubbock, Texas – United Supermarkets Arena

By: Wes Bloomquist

LUBBOCK, Texas – The final matchup for No. 23-ranked Texas Tech before the start of the 18-round Big 12 Conference fight brings Cal State Bakersfield to Lubbock where the Red Raiders will host the Roadrunners at 3 p.m. on Sunday at the United Supermarkets Arena.

Texas Tech (8-3) is now 6-0 at home this season, has won 13 in a row in the USA overall dating back to seven straight to end last season and is 56-5 in home games under head coach Chris Beard. Following a 68-58 win over UT Rio Grande Valley on Dec. 21, the Red Raiders have now won 53 straight non-conference home games while the Roadrunners (6-8) are on a two-game winning streak following wins over Cal Poly and Montana State before the Christmas break.

The Red Raiders will begin conference play against Oklahoma State on Saturday, Jan. 4 and No. 7 Baylor on Tuesday, Jan. 7 to complete a five-game home stand. The team will play six conference games before concluding non-conference play for the season by hosting Kentucky on Saturday, Jan. 25 in the Big 12/SEC Challenge at the USA.

With a 73.8 winning percentage (180-64) as a NCAA coach, Beard has the eighth best winning percentage among active coaches and is 84-34 after Tech's three-game winning streak coming into Sunday's matchup. The game is the final in the 2019 calendar year with the Red Raiders at 28-9 during games played in it.

POLLS/STAT RANKINGS: Texas Tech moved up one spot to No. 23 in the Associated Press Top 25, is up to No. 22 in the USA TODAY Coaches Poll and is now at No. 30 in the NCAA NET Rankings following a three-game winning streak that started by knocking off the top-ranked team in the nation. Gonzaga moved up to No. 1 in the nation in this week's poll followed by Ohio State, Louisville, Duke and Kansas to round out the top-5. Baylor, which will travel to Lubbock on Jan. 7, 2020 to play the Red Raiders are now No. 7 in the rankings. Tech is 1-1 this season against current top-25 teams with its win over Louisville which was No. 1 at the time on Dec. 10 in New York and a loss to No. 25 Iowa which enters the rankings this week. Statistically, Tech is currently 12th national and leads the Big 12 with 17.5 assists per game and also lead the conference with 192 made free throws and 192 total assists. The Red Raiders are second in the Big 12 with a 77.4 percentage from the free-throw line, 28.91 defensive rebounds per game and 39.45 rebounds per game. The team is currently 23rd nationally with its free-throw percentage and 46th with 16.73 turnovers forced. Individually, Davide Moretti continues to be the NCAA active career leader from the free-throw line and is second this season at 97.7 percent. For his career, Moretti, who has made 18 straight free throws, is 163 of 176 (92.6 percent) which leads all of NCAA Division I and is 42 of 43 this season after going 4-for-4 against the Vaqueros in the team's last game. Chris Clarke is third in the Big 12 with 9.0 rebounds per game and is third with 5.5 assists per game. Kyler Edwards is ninth in the conference with 3.5 assists per game and Clarke is fourth with a 2.54 assist-to-turnover ratio. Along with his free-throw percentage, Moretti is currently fourth in the Big 12 with 24 made 3-pointers this season. A grad transfer from Virginia Tech, Clarke has 99 rebounds this season and 616 in his career after having 11 in the win over Southern Miss last Monday and nine against UTRGV. He has had seven or more rebounds in 10 of 11 games and five or more assists in six games.

STREAKING: Texas Tech has won 53 straight non-conference home games after its win over UT Rio Grande Valley. 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 33-0 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 and will host Louisiana-Monroe on Saturday, Dec. 28 in its next home non-conference game at the Hinkle Fieldhouse. Duke had the previous active record at 150 games before falling to SFA on Nov. 27 at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

GAME COVERAGE: The game between Texas Tech and UTRGV will be broadcasted on FSSW+ with John Harris and Chris Level on the call and on the Texas Tech Sports Network's flagship station Double T 97.3 in Lubbock with Geoff Haxton and Clark Lammert. 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 5-0 in games on FSSW+ this season.

A FRESH SHINE: Through seven weeks, Texas Tech has already had four different players earn Big 12 Newcomer of the Week with Chris Clarke most recently after his performances last week. The weekly award has gone to TJ Holyfield (Nov. 11), Jahmi'us Ramsey (Nov. 25), Terrence Shannon, Jr. (Dec. 16) and Clarke (Dec. 23). The Red Raiders are the only team in the conference to have three or more players receive a weekly award. Tech is playing this season with 10 newcomers and only three returners from last year's historic run.

SERIES HISTORY: Texas Tech is 1-0 all-time against the Roadrunners after earning a 74-58 win on Dec. 27, 2011 and is 48-22 against current Western Athletic Conference opponents following its win over UTRGV last Saturday. Jordan Tolbert led Tech with 27 points after going 10-for-12 from the field in a game where the Red Raiders shot 60.0 percent from the field in the only previous matchup between the two programs.

LAST TIME OUT: Texas Tech had three freshmen score in double figures and two grad transfers grab nine rebounds each in a 68-58 non-conference win over UTRGV last Saturday at the USA. Jahmi'us Ramsey, who had missed the previous four games with an injury, led the team with 15 points and also grabbed five rebounds while Terrence Shannon, Jr. had 14 points and Kevin McCullar matched a career-high with 10 off the bench. TJ Holyfield and Chris Clarke led the team with nine rebounds and Kyler Edwards had four assists. The Red Raiders moved to 3-2 in games where they trailed at halftime after being down 27-26 at the half before outscoring the Vaqueros 42-31 in the second half. Tech, which went 4 of 8 on 3-pointers in the second half, shot 44.9 percent from the field and was 20 of 27 at the free-throw line. The Roadrunners earned a 72-50 win over Cal Poly on the same day, jumping out to a 31-20 lead at halftime and commanding the game with a 42-25 rebounding advantage. Cam Allen led the team with 15 points and Shawn Stith had 11 rebounds.

HOME DOMINANCE: Texas Tech has won 13 straight games at the USA and is 6-0 at home this season with a 20.2 scoring margin of victory in those games by scoring 78.5 points per game, shooting 45.6 percent from the field and limiting opponents to only 38.7 percent shooting. The Red Raiders have rolled to home-court victories over Eastern Illinois, Bethune-Cookman, Tennessee State, Long Island, Southern Miss and UTRGV to start this year. The Red Raiders have sold-out two games this season and are averaging 13,645 fans per game.

PLAYER NOTES: Texas Tech is led by junior Davide Moretti who has competed in 86 games (66 wins) 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. Clarke earned his Big 12 Newcomer of the Week honor after going for 14 points and 11 rebounds in the win over Southern Miss and then nine rebounds and eight points against UTRGV. A 6-foot-6 guard from Virginia Beach, Virginia, Clarke is a grad transfer from Virginia Tech and currently has 805 points, 616 rebounds and 271 assists in a career that has seen him play in 90 games. Through 11 games at Texas Tech, Clarke leads the team with 5.5 assists and 9.0 rebounds per game and is now scoring 7.0 points per game. He had a career-high 11 assists in a win over Houston Baptist and a season-high 12 rebounds against Louisville and Tennessee State. He has recorded two double-doubles and has double-digit rebounds in five of 11 games. Clarke scored a season-best 17 points against Creighton where he also had nine assists and seven rebounds for the Red Raiders. His impressive assist totals come with him having three or more assists in 10 of 11 games and six or more in five games. An Albuquerque, New Mexico native and SFA transfer, Holyfield comes into the game against CSU Bakersfield with 112 starts in his career and having scored 1,187 points and securing 647 rebounds as a collegiate player. Holyfield scored a season-high 21 points against HBU after dropping 20 against Bethune-Cookman and is now averaging 9.6 points and 4.7 rebounds per game this season. He leads the Red Raiders with 10 blocked shots per game and with a 56.5 shooting percentage. In the 21-point performance, Holyfield was 9-for-10 from the field after shooting 8 of 11 against BCU. He is coming off a season-high nine-rebound performance against UTRGV where he also had a season-best four assists. Through 11 starts, he has had five or more rebounds in seven games and has scored in double figures in four games.

Moretti comes into Sunday's game against the Roadrunners averaging 13.8 points and 2.3 assists per game for the Red Raiders in a junior season where he is shooting 39.1 percent from the field, 37.5 percent on 3-pointers and is second in the nation at 97.7 percent from the free-throw line. Moretti is the NCAA active leader from the free-throw line at 92.6 percent by going 163 of 176 through 86 games in his career. He has made 18 straight free throws after beginning the year by making 24 in row to begin the season before his only miss. A junior from Italy, He leads the Red Raiders with 24 3-pointers this season and has made 123 in his career. He scored a career-high 23 points against Creighton and has scored in double figures in nine of 11 games this season. Moretti is coming off a week where he scored 17 points against Southern Miss before going for seven against UTRGV. He is coming off a sophomore season where he was named to the All-Big 12 Third Team and was named to the Bob Cousy Award Watch List prior to the start of this season.

Jahmi'us Ramsey returned from a four-game absence due to injury and led the Red Raiders with 15 points in the win over UTRGV. A 6-foot-4 freshman from Arlington, Ramsey leads the team with 17.0 points per game through seven starts this season and is also contributing 5.9 rebounds and 1.6 assists per game. He scored a career-high 27 points in a win over Long Island and also had 25 against Houston Baptist. Ramsey has scored in double figures in six of seven games with his only game in single digits coming with seven points against Iowa where he left with a hamstring injury with 10 minutes remaining in the game. He is currently shooting 48.9 percent from the field and is 15 of 37 (40.5 percent) on 3-pointers this season. Terrence Shannon, Jr. is emerging as one of the top freshmen in the nation with a 12.4 scoring average to go along with 4.5 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game. A guard from Chicago, he scored a career-high 24 points in his hometown return against DePaul and has scored in double figures in seven games this season after going for 14 points in the win over UTRGV. Shannon had 18 points against Southern Miss after going 8-for-9 at the free-throw line and currently leads the Red Raiders with 47 made free throws this season. After going 4-for-4 at the line against UTRGV he is now shooting 85.5 percent. He also had a career-high with nine rebounds against Iowa and has pulled down five in the past two games.

Kyler Edwards is coming off a game against UTRGV where he had four assists and six points and is now averaging 10.0 points and 3.5 assists per game this season. A sophomore from Arlington, Edwards has scored in double figures in six games this season with a season-high 15 coming in the win over Houston Baptist. He has started all 11 games this season after playing a reserve role in all 38 during last year's run to the final Monday night of the college basketball season as a freshman. Edwards has 39 assists this season with nine games of three or more assists and had a career-high eight rebounds against Creighton where he also had 14 points. He has now scored 318 points, assisted on 81 baskets and has 138 rebounds through 49 games in his career. Edwards had a career-high 19 points last season as a freshman against Northern Colorado where he was 7-for-7 from the field with four 3-pointers. He also had 12 points against Virginia in the national championship game to highlight his freshman season. His 39 assists this season are only three shy of his 42 for all of last season.

Avery Benson has provided the Red Raiders a spark from the bench throughout the opening 11 games of the season where he is averaging 3.4 points and 1.8 rebounds per game. He scored a career-high 10 points in the win over then-No. 1 ranked Louisville where he hit the first shot of the game for the Red Raiders with a 3-pointer and also had a blocked shot at the halftime buzzer. A redshirt sophomore from Arkansas, Benson finished the game against the Cardinals shooting 3 of 3 from the field and is currently shooting 54.8 percent for the season. He played in 20 games last season during the historic run. Kevin McCullar matched a career-high with 10 points in the win over UTRGV after he went 3 of 4 from the field and 4-for-5 at the free-throw line in 16 minutes of play. A redshirt freshman from San Antonio, McCullar is averaging 4.3 points per game and is also providing 2.2 rebounds. He also had 10 points in the win over Long Island and had a career-high five rebounds in the win over Louisville at Madison Square Garden.

OPPONENT 12: Taze Moore leads the Roadrunners with 12.1 points per game to go along with 31 assists and 18 steals this season, while Czar Perry is adding 9.4 points per game and De'Monte Buckingham is at 9.0 points and 4.6 rebounds per game. Shawn Stith leads the team with 4.8 rebounds per game and is providing 8.6 points per game for the team that is averaging 73.1 points per game. Perry, a junior from El Dorado, Arkansas, leads the team with 51 assists while Cam Allen has 25 assists and 7.5 points per game from the starting lineup. Moore scored a season-high 22 points and Stith had a career-high 26 against South Dakota State. The Roadrunners have used eight different starting lineups through 14 games this season and is led by Rod Barnes who is in his ninth season with the program. Barnes, who earned the 2001 Naismith Coach of the Year honor, is 142-130 with the Roadrunners and has won 328 games in his career that includes leading Ole Miss from 1998-2006 and Georgia State from 2007-11.

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 84-34 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 16 wins away from 100 at Tech, Beard is 180-64 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 game will be part of a doubleheader with the Texas Tech women's basketball team hosting UTSA at noon on Sunday. A single ticket will gain admission for both games. During halftime of both games, Speed Painter Jessica Haas will perform. Haas was a winner on the Gong Show that was featured on ABC.

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 online and in stores. It is published by the TTU Press.

UP NEXT: The Red Raiders return to action against Oklahoma State on Jan. 4 and Baylor on Tuesday, Jan. 7 to complete a five-game home stand.