PREVIEW: Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship

Thursday, March 14

Kansas City, Missouri

6 p.m.

Texas Tech Athletics

West Virginia

PREVIEW: Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship

March 12, 2019 | Men's Basketball

GAME NOTES BRACKET PRESS CONFERENCE VIVID SEATS

No. 7 Red Raiders vs. WVU | 6 p.m., Thursday | TV: ESPN2 / RADIO: TTSN | Big 12 Championship | Sprint Center – Kansas City

LUBBOCK, Texas – The celebration is over. It's now time to fight again.

After a historic weekend that saw the program's first regular-season Big 12 Conference regular-season title and a slew of awards, No. 7 Texas Tech turns complete attention to the Phillips 66 Big 12 Conference Championship.

The Red Raiders (26-5, 14-4 Big 12) will be making their 23rd appearance at the conference championship where they will play at 6 p.m. on Thursday in the quarterfinals against West Virginia at the Sprint Center in Kansas City. The Mountaineers advanced with a 72-71 win over Oklahoma on Wednesday. Tech is the second seed in the tournament with Big 12 Conference Co-Champion Kansas State earning the top seed with a regular-season sweep of Baylor that determined the seeding. Tech and the Bears split their regular-season matchup this season giving the Red Raider the second seed in the tournament for the second straight season.

Tech has never won a Big 12 Championship tournament title after winning five Southwest Conference tournament championships (1976, 1985, 1986, 1993, 1996). Tech is on a nine-game winning streak going into the postseason is only behind an 18-game winning streak by the 1996 Red Raider team going into the SWC tournament. That team also owns the program's longest winning streak that went to 23 games before a Sweet 16 loss to Georgetown.

The Red Raiders are 2-0 at the Sprint Center this season after winning the Hall of Fame Classic by knocking off Southern Cal 78-63 on Nov. 19 and then Nebraska 70-52 a day later. The team went 3-1 in neutral-court games this season and swept the regular-season matchup against West Virginia. In the first first-round matchup, TCU knocked off Oklahoma State to start the tournament.

POLLS/STAT RANKINGS: Texas Tech will go into the postseason on a nine-game winning streak and at No. 9 in the NCAA NET Rankings, No. 7 in the Associated Press Top-25 and No. 6 in the USA TODAY Coaches Poll after winning the program's first-ever Big 12 Conference regular-season championship. The rankings are the highest for Tech this season and the No. 6 ranking in the USA TODAY Coaches Poll matches a program-best. Tech, which is the second seed in the tournament for the second straight season, finished the regular season leading the nation by limiting opponents to only 36.8 percent shooting and is second in the country by holding teams to 58.6 points per game. The team also ranks ninth with a 14.4 scoring margin of victory, is 16th defensively with opponents shooting just 29.9 percent on 3-pointers and 17th with 4.9 blocks per game. Offensively, the Red Raiders are second in the conference with a 47.2 shooting percentage and a 72.3 percentage from the free-throw line. Tech finished the regular season leading the Big 12 with a 3.3 turnover margin, 15.61 turnovers forced and were second with a 36.9 shooting percentage on 3-pointers. Along with the polls, Texas Tech is No. 10 in the ESPN Power Rankings and No. 8 in the Pomeroy Ratings and Andy Katz's Power 36. The Red Raiders have now been ranked in the AP Top-25 and USA TODAY Coaches Poll for 15 straight weeks after being unranked entering the season following last year's NCAA Elite Eight run. Tech first entered the AP poll in the fourth week of the season at No. 20 and climbed to No. 8 in Week 10. The highest ranking in program history came last season at No. 6.

Individually, Davide Moretti leads the nation by shooting 93.3 percent from the free-throw line and finished the regular season shooting 50.7 percent from the field and 48.1 on 3-pointers. He is 84 of 90 at the free-throw line this season, including going 33-for-34 during the nine-game winning streak and has made 20 free throws in a row coming into the tournament. Tariq Owens finished the regular season second in the conference and 10th nationally with a Texas Tech single-season program record of 75 blocked shots. He's also 13th in the country with 2.42 blocks per game. Jarrett Culver, who was named the Big 12 Conference Player of the Year on Sunday and then the Big 12 Player of the Week for the third time this season on Monday, is third in the conference with 18.3 points per game, fifth with 113 assists and eighth with 41 steals. Matt Mooney is second in the Big 12 with 1.74 steals per game and Norense Odiase is sixth in the conference with 0.97 blocks per game.

NEW CONFERENCE RECORD: Texas Tech established a new program record by winning 14 conference games this season. The Red Raiders broke the previous mark of 11 games that was established last season and also set a new mark by winning nine conference games in a row. Before the last two seasons, Tech had recorded 10 conference wins in the 2004-05, 2001-02 and 1996-97 seasons.

SERIES HISTORY: Texas Tech will play either Oklahoma or West Virginia in the quarterfinals. The Red Raiders swept both regular-season matchups this season. All-time, West Virginia owns a 12-5 advantage in the series and Oklahoma is 39-26 against the Red Raiders. The Mountaineers eliminated the Red Raiders in the semifinals last year with a 66-63 win in Kansas City. Tech and WVU are 1-1 in the tournament against each other. TTU and OU have met twice in the postseason with a 69-63 win by the Red Raiders in 2005 after a 67-60 overtime win by the Sooners in 2003 in Dallas.

COACH NOTES: Texas Tech head coach Chris Beard has been named a Werner Ladder Naismith Men's College Coach of the Year Semifinalist and is now 71-29 in three seasons as the Red Raider coach after the win against the Cyclones. Beard was named the Big 12 Coach of the Year on Sunday after earning the Big 12 Co-Coach of the Year last season and leading the program to its first-ever NCAA Elite Eight appearance in his second year. Under Beard, Tech is 50-5 at home and has secured a second seed in the program in back-to-back seasons. The previous program-best prior to Beard was a four-seed in 2005. Beard is 1-2 in the Big 12 Championship tournament.

ELITE DEFENSE: Texas Tech has allowed only four opponents to score over 70 points and has limited 11 to under 55 points. Opponents are averaging just 60.8 points per game during nine-game winning streak and have been limited to 37.1 percent shooting from the field and 35.8 percent on 3-pointers. Texas was held to 29.6 percent shooting in the game last Monday which made them the sixth opponent this season to shoot under 30 percent against the Red Raiders.

FAST STARTS: Texas Tech has led at halftime by double-digits in eight of its last 11 games: at TCU (+18), Oklahoma State (+10), Kansas (+25), Baylor (+13), at Oklahoma State (+19), at Oklahoma (+11), West Virginia (+15) and TCU (+16). The only discrepancies during the stretch is a two-point deficit at Iowa State, a nine-point lead over Texas and a 20-point halftime deficit at Kansas.

25-WIN MILESTONE: The Red Raiders have now won 25 games or more four times in program history after earning the win over the Longhorns. The team won 27 games last season, 25 in the 1975-76 season and set the program record with 30 wins in the 1995-96 season. Tech reached the 20-win milestone with its victory over Oklahoma State and has now recorded 20 wins in a season 13 times in program history. The team went 27-10 last season and has now had back-to-back 20-win years for the first time since the 2003-04 and 2004-05 under head coach Bob Knight. We are in the midst of the only time in program history with two straight 25-win seasons.

MAINTAINING POSSESSION: Texas Tech has a plus-4.2 turnover margin advantage during the course of its nine-game winning streak. The Red Raiders have forced 132 turnovers by their opponents during those games and have only lost 94 possessions. For the season, TTU has a plus-3.3 turnover margin advantage which leads the Big 12 and is 26th nationally. Tech committed only nine turnovers at ISU, had seven against Texas and OSU and limited turnovers to eight against KU during the stretch of wins. The team has 11 games with single-digit turnovers this season and had a season-low six turnovers in the non-conference win over Northern Colorado.

3-POINT BARRAGE: Texas Tech matched a program record with 16 3-pointers in the win over the Jayhawks after making 12 in the two games at Oklahoma State and against Baylor. The 3-point explosion started by making 10 at Oklahoma. The Red Raiders are 89-for-208 (42.8 %) on 3-pointers during the nine-game winning streak. Tech has eight games this season with 10 or more 3s, including five of the last eight games after going 11-for-26 at Iowa State.

ROAD SHOW: Texas Tech went 6-3 on the road in conference play after earning wins at West Virginia, Texas, OU, OSU, TCU and Iowa State. The Red Raiders finished the regular-season 9-4 away from home, including wins over Southern Cal and Nebraska at the Sprint Center.

HOME DOMINANCE: Texas Tech matched a program record by going 17-1 at home this season and is 50-5 at home under Chris Beard the past three seasons. In Big 12 play, the Red Raiders finished the year with an 8-1 record on their home court this season and are 22-5 during the Beard era. Tech is currently 93-75 in conference play and 248-90 all-time at the United Supermarkets Arena since the first game on Nov. 19, 1999. The Red Raiders went 9-0 this season at home in non-conference play to extend a 47-game non-conference home winning streak. The Red Raiders pushed that total to 47 with a 67-64 win over Arkansas in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge on Jan. 26. They will go into next season on a seven-game home winning streak with the only loss this season coming in a 68-64 loss to Iowa State on Jan. 16.

COVERING TECH: The Red Raiders will be featured on ESPN2 with Jon Sciambi and Robbie Hummel on the call along with reporter Tara Petrolino. On the radio, Geoff Haxton and Chris Level will broadcast 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.

PLAYER NOTES: Jarrett Culver was named the first Big 12 Conference Player of the Year in program history after going for 18.3 points, 6.2 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game this season. A sophomore from Lubbock, Culver enters the postseason having scored 982 career points after recording a career-high 31 last Saturday in the regular-season finale at Iowa State. He was 12-for-19 from the field with four 3-pointers in the win that secured the regular-season title for the Red Raiders. He is positioned to become the first player to reach 1,000 points as a freshman-sophomore in program history and would be the 42nd player in program history to reach the milestone. His 17.8 points per game in Big 12 play currently ranks as the program's fifth most. Culver was named the Big 12 Conference Player of the Week for the third time this season on Monday to celebrate his 31 against ISU after he went for 16 points and seven rebounds against Texas. He has won three Big 12 Player of the Week honors this season after securing his second two weeks ago after going for 26 points against Kansas and followed it by recording his third double-double of the season with 19 points and 10 rebounds in the win over Oklahoma State. Culver, who is third in the Big 12 in scoring behind only KU's Dedric Lawson (19.1) and Iowa State's Marial Shayok (18.7), had his first double-double of the season by going for 23 points and 13 rebounds in the first matchup against Oklahoma and his second double-double of the season with a career-high 16 rebounds and 20 points in the first matchup against Iowa State. Culver has led the team in scoring in 19 of 31 games and is currently averaging 17.6 points, 6.8 rebounds and has 57 assists in conference play. Culver is a Jerry West Award finalist and is on the John R. Wooden Award National Ballot, Oscar Robertson Trophy and Lute Olson Award watch lists. He was named to the Sporting News All-America second-team and earned Big 12 First Team to go along with his Player of the Year honor. He has scored in double figures in 30 of 31 games and is shooting 48.7 percent from the field overall and 44.6 percent in Big 12 play. Culver had recorded a previous career-high with 30 points against Abilene Christian on Dec. 20 where he went 12-for-13 from the field and hit four 3-pointers. He was named the Big 12 Player of the Week for the first time this season after the performance and followed it by going to New York and scoring 25 points against Duke. He has scored in double figures in 17 straight games and has 30 assists during the nine-game winning streak.

Davide Moretti was named an All-Big 12 Conference Third Team selection as one of the top shooters in the nation. During the nine-game winning streak, Moretti is 25-for-39 (64.1 percent) on 3-pointers and is 33-for-34 at the free-throw line. He currently leads the nation by shooting 93.3 percent at the free-throw line after going 84-for-90 in the regular season. Moretti was 50.7 percent from the field and leads the conference at 48.1 percent on 3-pointers to go along with his free-throw percentage. He is coming off a game where he scored 20 points with four 3-pointers at Iowa State where he also went 4-for-4 at the line to extend his streak to 20 straight made free throws. He led Texas Tech with 20 points after going 12-for-12 from the free-throw line and 2-for-2 on 3-pointers at Oklahoma State and followed it by scoring 15 points at TCU with three more 3-pointers. Moretti, who is currently averaging 13.2 points and 2.7 assists in conference play, has made a 3-pointer in 20 straight games and in 27 of 31 this season. Moretti recorded a career-high 21 points against Arkansas in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge after going 6-for-9 from the field with three 3-pointers. He's currently shooting 53.5 percent on 3-pointers in conference play and is 62-for-129 from beyond the arc this season. His 62 3-pointers are the most since Toddrick Gotcher hit 62 in the 2015-16 season, while the single-season record is 94 from Cory Carr who made 94 in the 1996-97 season. Moretti has scored in double figures in 16 of 18 Big 12 games this season and now has 488 points through 68 games in his career. He has started all 31 games for the Red Raiders this season after making one start in 37 games played as a freshman. A coach's son from Italy, Moretti is averaging 11.6 points and 2.6 assists per game in his second season with the program. Moretti made a career-high five 3-pointers against MVSU in non-conference play.

After losing five seniors off last season's NCAA Elite Eight team, Texas Tech remained a veteran team through recruiting by adding graduate transfers Matt Mooney (University of South Dakota) and Tariq Owens (St. John's) to go along with returners Norense Odiase and Brandone Francis to make up a senior class of four for the Red Raiders. Mooney was named to the All-Big 12 Second-Team, the Big 12 Newcomer Team and he and Owens were both selected for the Big 12 All-Defensive Team. Owens was advanced to the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year Award Semifinalist Watch List. Mooney and Owens were on the original list, making TTU the only team with two members on the list of 15.

Owens became the Red Raider single-season block leader on Monday after having three blocks against Texas and added three more against ISU to take his record to 75 going to the postseason. He had a season-high 14 rebounds in the win over the Cyclones and added eight points after going for 13 rebounds at TCU where he also added 12 points for his third double-double of the year. Owens has scored in double figures in six of seven games and has averaged 8.9 points and 6.8 rebounds per game during the winning streak. He secured his second double-double of the season two weeks ago by scoring 12 points and adding 10 rebounds in the first matchup at Kansas and has at least one blocked shot in all 30 games this season. An Odenton, Maryland native, he had one of his best offensive games of the season after scoring 17 points in the first matchup against TCU where he was 7-for-9 from the field, including going 2-for-2 on 3-pointers in the first matchup between the two teams. Owens averaged 9.2 points, 6.4 rebounds and 2.4 blocked shots. He had 43 blocks in Big 12 play and is fourth in the conference with a 59.9 shooting percentage. Owens, who led the BIG EAST in blocks the past two seasons while playing at St. John's, established a new Texas Tech single-game record with eight blocks in the win over Memphis on Dec. 1 in Miami after starting his Red Raider career with six blocks against Incarnate Word in the season opener. He had a season-high 18 points against Southern Cal in Kansas City and recorded the team's first double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds in his eight-block performance against Memphis. Owens transferred to Tech after playing his freshman season at Tennessee and then two years at St. John's. He came to Lubbock with 179 blocked shots and now has 255 in his career.

Mooney went for 13 points, four steals and five assists in the win over Iowa State and now has 38 assists during the nine-game winning streak. His conference season has been highlighted by scoring a season-high 22 points at Texas where he was 8-for-10 from the field with three 3-pointers and has scored in double-figures in 10 conference games this season. He now has three games in his collegiate career with five 3-pointers and has 35 3-pointers this season for the Red Raiders. Through the 18 conference games, he averaged 11.1 points, 2.7 rebounds, 1.6 steals and 3.1 assists per game in Big 12 play. An Illinois native, Mooney started his career at Air Force before playing two seasons at South Dakota where he led his team in scoring both years. He is shooting 43.2 percent from the field this season, has scored in double figures in 17 games and leads the team with 54 steals after having 19 during the nine-game winning streak. Mooney transferred to Tech having recorded 1,480 points, 166 steals and 228 assists at Air Force and South Dakota. He now has 1,814 points, 220 steals and 329 assists in his collegiate career.

Odiase has made 104 career starts as a Red Raider and is currently averaging 6.2 rebounds per game during the nine-game winning streak. He had back-to-back double-digit rebounding performances with 11 rebounds at OU after having 10 against West Virginia and then a three-block performance against Texas. Odiase had five rebounds in the win over ISU to finish with nine conference games with five or more rebounds. He had a season-high nine points against the Mountaineers and has played in 118 career games going into the tournament. The career resume boasts 554 rebounds, 593 points and 74 blocked shots in his career as a Red Raider that includes two trips the NCAA tournament. A Fort Worth native, Odiase is averaging 4.1 points and 5.3 rebounds per game in his senior season and is shooting 56.1 percent from the field. He had his first career-high 13 rebound performance in the win over Southeastern Louisiana on Nov. 13 after a 10-rebound game against Mississippi Valley State. Odiase scored seven points to go along with his seven rebounds against Duke after going 3-for-4 from the field and finished with 91 rebounds and 20 blocks in conference play.

Francis went for 12 points and four rebounds on his Senior Night on Monday after hitting two 3-pointers against Texas and followed it with two big second-half 3-pointers against ISU. He's currently averaging 6.3 points, 2.4 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game and has made 36 3-pointers this season. Francis, who has scored in double-figures in four conference games this season, finished with six points, three assists and four rebounds in the win over the Cyclones. A reserve in 30 of 31 games this season with an average of 23.5 minutes per game, Francis had a streak of seven straight games with a 3-pointer end last Wednesday against OSU but has made five in the past three. A Dominican Republic native, he started his career at Florida before transferring to Lubbock where he averaged 5.1 points per game with 33 3-pointers as a junior during the Elite 8 run, including a career-high 17 points in the win over West Virginia. Francis scored 13 points in the opener against UIW and would contribute 10 points and a career-high six assists in the neutral-court win over Memphis. He has scored 382 points in 68 games in his career for the Red Raiders.

Texas Tech sophomore Deshawn Corprew was 5-for-6 from the field with 12 points in the win at TCU and followed it by recording seven points and six rebounds in the win over Texas. He was held scoreless for only the second time this season at ISU. He was coming off a game where he scored seven points against OSU and was 2-for-2 on 3-pointers against KU. During the nine-game winning streak, Corprew is 23-for-37 from the field and 8-for-17 on 3-pointers. He is averaging 5.8 points and 3.7 rebounds per game this season, including averaging 6.7 points per game in the past nine. A transfer from South Plains College, he recorded a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds against UTRGV. Corprew, who made his first career start in that game against UTRGV, was 6-for-8 from the field to match a previous career-high of 13 points that he also had against Northern Colorado. Kyler Edwards is averaging 5.5 points and 1.3 assists per game in his freshman season. He recorded a career-high six assists and added eight points in the win over OU and is shooting 32.4 on 3-pointers in conference play. He has scored nine points in two conference games so far, first in the home game against KSU and then against Iowa State before going 3-for-3 from the field for eight points in Norman. A guard from Arlington, he has scored nine or more points in eight games this season and has recorded four double-digit scoring performances. Edwards recorded a career-high 19 points against Northern Colorado where he went 7-for-7 from the field with four 3-pointers. Avery Benson scored a career-high five points against Baylor after recording a career-high three steals in 11 minutes against WVU, while Parker Hicks scored a career-high with five points against the Mountaineers. Hicks was 2-for-4 from the field, including hitting one of the eight 3-pointers by the Red Raiders in the 31-point win.

Let's go get another one in KC.#4To1

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— Texas Tech Basketball (@TexasTechMBB) March 11, 2019

Well-deserved across the board for the champs. ????

???? https://t.co/jJIiagY3zU #4To1

??#WreckEm?? pic.twitter.com/2K6qvUprTt
— Texas Tech Basketball (@TexasTechMBB) March 10, 2019

24 hours have passed, but this still bears repeating.

Those who stay, get rewarded.#4To1

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— Texas Tech Basketball (@TexasTechMBB) March 12, 2019