RED RAIDER PREVIEW: No. 4 Baylor Bears

Tuesday, January 7

Lubbock, Texas

8 p.m.

Texas Tech Athletics

No. 4 Baylor

RED RAIDER PREVIEW: No. 4 Baylor Bears

January 05, 2020 | Men's Basketball

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No. 4 Baylor at No. 22 Texas Tech | 8 p.m., Tuesday | TV: ESPN2 | RADIO: TTSN & Westwood One

By: Wes Bloomquist

LUBBOCK, Texas – A Big 12 battle is about to go down when No. 22 Texas Tech hosts No. 4 Baylor at 8 p.m. on Tuesday at the United Supermarkets Arena.

The Red Raiders (10-3, 1-0 Big 12) enter their first ranked vs. ranked matchup of the season on a 10-game conference winning streak and 15-game home win streak that both date back to last season following their 85-50 win over Oklahoma State on Saturday, while the Bears (11-1, 1-0 Big 12) have the nation's third longest active winning streak at 10 games after they opened conference play with a 59-44 win over Texas in Waco.

Texas Tech is coming off one of its most impressive wins of the season, knocking off OSU by 35 points for its largest margin of victory in a Big 12 game in program history after limiting the Cowboys to 28.8 percent shooting. The Red Raiders have now held six of 13 opponents under 60 points this season and come into Tuesday's game with the starting rotation of TJ Holyfield, Davide Moretti, Kyler Edwards, Jahmi'us Ramsey and Terrence Shannon, Jr. all scoring in double figures. The team of three returners and 10 newcomers is on a five-game winning streak that started by knocking off then-No. 1 ranked Louisville by a 70-57 margin at Madison Square Garden followed by four home wins. Through 13 games, the Red Raiders have scored 999 points with 65.2 percent of that coming from newcomers.

With a 74.0 winning percentage (182-64) as a NCAA coach, Chris Beard has the eighth best percentage among active coaches and is 86-34 at Texas Tech. The Red Raiders are led in scoring by freshman Jahmi'us Ramsey (17.4 ppg.) and graduate transfer Chris Clarke who is at 8.9 rebounds and 5.8 assists per game. Tech is scoring 76.8 points per game, is shooting 45.6 percent and is averaging 17.3 assist per game which ranks 12th nationally. The team, which has nine double-digit win margins, owns a 14.6 scoring margin of victory and dropped two of their three losses in overtime decisions. After holding OSU to 28.8 percent shooting and to 50 points, Texas Tech is limiting opponents to 62.2 points per game and 39.2 percent shooting through 13 games.

Ramsey led Tech with 18 points in the win over Oklahoma State with Holyfield adding 17 and Moretti and Shannon each going for 13. Chris Clarke finished the game with 10 rebounds, eight assists and six points in 28 minutes as a sixth-man for the Red Raiders who turned a six-point halftime lead into the 35-point win by shooting 58.6 percent in the second half and holding the Cowboys to only 25.0 percent in the final half. Tech had only nine turnovers and assisted on 20 of 30 shots.

The Red Raiders went 14-4 in conference play to share the regular-season title with Kansas State, while Baylor was 10-8 in conference and 20-14 overall last season. The Red Raiders, who have not lost at home since a 68-64 defeat to Iowa State on Jan. 16, 2019, started last year's conference schedule with a four-game winning streak before closing it out with nine straight wins.

HOME DOMINANCE: The Red Raiders have now won 15 straight games on their home court after starting this season with an 8-0 record following running off seven in a row last year. Tech is 58-5 in Lubbock with Beard on the sidelines which includes a 23-5 conference record at the USA. The 15-game home winning streak is only behind Gonzaga (32 games), Kansas (28), VCU (21), Prairie View (18), South Dakota State (18), Villanova (17) and Santa Clara (16) for the national lead. Florida State and Creighton are both tied with Tech at 15 game streaks. The Red Raiders have gone 8-1 in Big 12 home games the past two seasons, including finishing last year on a six-game conference win streak at home to complete the run to the program's first regular-season Big 12 title. At home this season, Texas Tech is currently scoring 78.6 points per game, is shooting 47.1 percent from the field and is limiting the opposition to 57.2 ppg. and 37.8 percent shooting. The Red Raiders have rolled to home victories over Eastern Illinois, Bethune-Cookman, Tennessee State, Long Island, Southern Miss, UT Rio Grande Valley, CSU Bakersfield and Oklahoma State. Texas Tech has won 54 straight non-conference home games after its win over CSU Bakersfield on Dec. 29. 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 34-0 in non-conference home games as the team's head coach. Butler leads the nation with a 58-game non-conference home winning streak after knocking off Louisiana-Monroe on Dec. 28 at the Hinkle Fieldhouse. Duke had the previous active record at 150 games before falling to SFA on Nov. 27 at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Tech's final non-conference home game of the season will come on Jan. 25 against Kentucky for the Big 12/SEC Challenge on ESPN.

PROGRAM MARKS: Texas Tech is coming off its winningest season in program history after going 31-7 and 14-4 in Big 12 play last year. The Red Raiders won the Big 12 regular-season championship before advancing to the Final Four for the first time in program history. The program is now 1,435-1,116 all-time after its win over Oklahoma State on Saturday.

GAME COVERAGE: The game between Texas Tech and Baylor will be broadcasted on ESPN2 with Jon Sciambi and Fran Fraschilla, on national radio through Westwood One with Craig Way and Will Perdue 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 ESPN app and can follow the game at @TexasTechMBB.

SERIES HISTORY: Texas Tech owns an 80-58 all-time advantage in the series with the two programs having split the last four years in the regular-season series. The matchup on Tuesday will be the second where both teams are ranked with the prior ranked vs. ranked game coming on Dec. 29, 2017 and resulting in a 77-53 win by the Red Raiders. Beard is 3-3 against Baylor after leading Tech to an 86-61 win in the final matchup last season with Jarrett Culver leading the way with 18 points and Davide Moretti hitting four 3-pointers and finishing with 17. Baylor is 6-4 against Tech in the past 10 matchups… Texas Tech, which is 46-19 at home against Baylor, won the first ever meeting with a 38-28 win on Jan. 2, 1937 in Oklahoma City.

RANKED vs. RANKED: Texas Tech is 11-17 all-time and 4-3 at home in ranked vs. ranked matchups in program history. The Red Raiders were 6-3 in the matchups last season, including going 2-1 in conference games with home wins over Oklahoma and Kansas and a road loss at KU. Beard is 21-10 against ranked opponents at Tech after the win over Louisville which is the first top-ranked opponent win in program history.

PLAYER NOTES: Texas Tech is led by junior Davide Moretti who has competed in 88 games (68 wins) with the Red Raiders, dynamic freshmen and graduate transfers Chris Clarke and TJ Holyfield who bring experience to a team that lost four starters and the leading reserve off last year's historic team. Clarke comes into the game against Baylor statistically ranked third in the Big 12 with 5.8 assists, fifth in rebounding at 8.9 per game and is fourth with a 2.68 assist-to-turnover ratio. A grad transfer from Virginia Tech, he has played in 92 games in his collegiate career where he has scored 820 points, has 633 rebounds and 285 assists. Clarke leads Texas Tech with two double-doubles this season, six games with double-digit rebounding performances and has flirted with obtaining a triple-double in multiple games. He is coming off his first Big 12 game where he went for 10 rebounds, five assists and six points in the win over Oklahoma State after having nine points, nine assists and seven points against CSU Bakersfield. At Virginia Tech, Clarke recorded a triple-double with a 12/13/10 performance against the Citadel. Here at Texas Tech, Clarke has led the team in rebounding in 11 of 13 games and had a career-high 11 assists in a win over Houston Baptist. He is averaging 7.1 points per game this season with a season-high 17 against Creighton and recorded his double-doubles against Iowa with 11 points and 10 rebounds and then with 14/11 against Southern Miss. The only triple-double in Texas Tech history came from Mark Davis who had 28 points, 17 rebounds and 11 assists against Texas on Feb. 20, 1994. Davis finished his career with 19 double-doubles which is the sixth most in program history.

Moretti is averaging 13.2 points per game this season and leads the team with 28 3-pointers made after going for 13 points with two 3-pointers against Oklahoma State. A junior from Italy, Moretti earned All-Big 12 Third Team honors last season where he led the nation by shooting 92.4 percent from the free-throw line. At 45 of 48 on free throws this season, Moretti is sixth nationally at 93.8 percent and is the NCAA active career leader at 91.7 percent. He has made at least one 3-pointer in 12 of 13 games this season and has scored in double figures in 10 games. Moretti scored a career-high 23 points in a loss against Creighton where he made three 3-pointers and was 4 of 4 at the free-throw line and had 19 points earlier this season against Tennessee State with a season-high four 3-pointers. Moretti, who has started 51 straight games for the Red Raiders, has scored 737 points and has made 127 3-pointers in his career coming into the matchup against Baylor.

Holyfield has now played and started in 114 games in his collegiate career after beginning at SFA where he played three seasons. A forward from Albuquerque, New Mexico, Holyfield is coming off a 17-point performance against Oklahoma State where he also added seven rebounds. He's currently averaging 10.1 points and 5.1 rebounds per game along with leading the Red Raiders with 14 blocked shots this season after having a season-high three blocks against the Cowboys. Holyfield has scored 1,212 points in his career along with securing 661 rebounds, including scoring a season-high 21 points in a win over Houston Baptist and 20 against Bethune-Cookman. Those performances earned him Big 12 Newcomer of the Week honors and a spot on the Oscar Robertson Award Watch List. He leads the Red Raiders this season by shooting 58.8 percent from the field after going 7 of 10 on Saturday. Holyfield has secured seven rebounds in back-to-back games after having a season-high nine against UTRGV where he also scored eight points.

Jahmi'us Ramsey and Terrence Shannon, Jr. are emerging as one of the most electric freshmen duo in the conference. A guard from Arlington, Ramsey leads the Red Raiders with 17.4 points per game after going off for 18 against Oklahoma State in his Big 12 debut while Shannon had 13 which all came in the second half. Ramsey missed four games this season due to a hamstring injury he suffered with 10 minutes remaining against Iowa and returned against UTRGV on Dec. 21. He scored 15 points in his return against the Vaqueros and then went off for 20 against CSU Bakersfield before opening conference play. Ramsey has led the team in scoring in six of the nine games he's played in this season, including his career-high 27 against Long Island and going for 25 against Houston Baptist. Prior to the start of the season he was named an All-Big 12 Preseason Honorable Mention selection and then earned Big 12 Newcomer of the Week on Nov. 25 after his scoring explosion against LIU where he was 10 of 16 from the field with a career-high five 3-pointers. He is currently second on the team with 23 3-pointers made this season after having four in each of the last two games. Shannon is averaging 12.2 points per game with a career-high 24 at DePaul where he was 9 of 18 from the field with two 3-pointers. A guard from Chicago, Shannon also added eight rebounds in his hometown return against DePaul to start a streak of four straight double-figure scoring performances. He finished the game on Saturday against Oklahoma State going 5 of 7 from the field and provided five rebounds. He had a season-high nine rebounds against Iowa in Las Vegas and was 8 of 9 from the free-throw line against Southern Miss where he scored 18 points. Shannon leads the Red Raiders with 53 free throws made and is shooting 84.1 on free-throws this season.

For a season, Texas Tech has only been led in scoring by two freshmen with Jordan Tolbert averaging 11.5 points per game in the 2011-12 season and Rick Bullock who had 13.8 ppg. in 1972-73.

Kyler Edwards is averaging 10.7 points, 4.5 rebounds and 3.4 rebounds through 13 starts in his sophomore season. A guard from Arlington, Edwards scored a career-high 20 points against CSU Bakersfield on Dec. 29 after hitting three 3-pointers and going 7 of 9 on free throws. He is coming off a game against the Cowboys where he provided nine points and four assists in 33 minutes of play. He has scored 347 points and has 86 assists through 51 games played in his career after playing a reserve role throughout his freshman season where he averaged 5.5 points and 2.2 rebounds per game during Tech's run to the NCAA Championship Final. Edwards is currently third on the team with 16 made 3-pointers this season including hitting three in games against CSU Bakersfield and Houston Baptist. His previous career-best game came last season against Northern Colorado where he had 19 points after shooting 7 of 7 from the field with a career-high four 3-pointers. He had a career-high eight rebounds against Creighton earlier this season in Las Vegas and matched a career-best with six assists against Long Island.

Avery Benson and Kevin McCullar have provided the Red Raiders a spark from the bench through 13 games of the season. Benson is averaging 2.8 points and 1.6 rebounds per game, including 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 66.7 percent for the season. He played in 20 games last season during the historic run. 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. On Saturday, McCullar scored seven points in eight minutes of play in his first Big 12 game. A redshirt freshman from San Antonio, McCullar is averaging 4.2 points per game and is also providing 2.0 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.

Texas Tech is currently 8-1 with the starting rotation of Holyfield, Moretti, Edwards, Shannon and Ramsey.

OPPONENT 14: Baylor travels to Lubbock on a 10-game winning streak following its 59-44 win over Texas on Saturday night in Waco. The Bears dropped a 67-64 decision on Nov. 8 against Washington for their only loss of the year and will come into Tuesday's game scoring 75.7 points per game and shooting 43.4 percent from the field. BU is 1-0 in road games and 4-1 away from its home court. Jared Butler leads the Bears with 17.3 points per game after scoring 19 against the Longhorns, while Freddie Gillespie leads the team with 9.4 rebounds per game and 28 blocked shots. A sophomore from Louisiana, Butler was 8 of 16 from the field against Texas and also led the team with six assists to take his season total to 28. MaCio Teague is averaging 15.2 points and 4.8 rebounds per game to begin his junior season, while Davion Mitchell is at 9.3 points per game and leads the team with 40 assists. Butler, Teague, Mitchell and Gillespie have started all 12 games for the Bears this season.
Baylor's 10-game winning streak is the third best in the nation behind only San Diego State (15-0) and Auburn (13-0) this season.

TEXAS TECH 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 86-34 record coming into the game against Baylor. 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 14 wins away from 100 at Tech, Beard is 182-64 as a collegiate head coach after prior leadership at Little Rock, Angelo State and McMurry.

A NEW SHINE: Through nine weeks, Texas Tech has already had four different players earn Big 12 Newcomer of the Week with Chris Clarke most recently after his performances against Southern Miss and UTRGV where he averaged a double-double. 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, who have 10 newcomers and three returners on the roster, are the only team in the conference to have three or more players receive a weekly award. Newcomers are accounting for 65.2 percent of the team's scoring and 70.9 percent of rebounds this season.

ATTENDANCE: Everyone's invited. Under coach Beard, Texas Tech has seen attendance soar over the past four years and is currently drawing 13,782 fans per game this season which is the most in Texas, the third best in the Big 12 and is 19th nationally. The Red Raiders have sold out two games at 15,098 capacity this season (Eastern Illinois & Bethune-Cookman) in the non-conference schedule and is coming off a crowd of 14,325 against Oklahoma State. In the state of Texas, Tech's attendance is followed by Texas which is drawing 9,330 to the Frank Erwin Center in Austin which ranks 40th nationally, Baylor (7,231), Houston (6,623), Texas A&M (6,589), TCU (6,073) and UTEP (5,843). Prior to Beard's hiring, Texas Tech averaged 8,418 fans in the 2015-16 season. That figure grew to 9,027 in his first season, to 10,740 in the second year and was at 12,098 last season. The program record for season attendance is 13,743 in the 2001-02 campaign. Tech sold out four games last season and 10 times during the Beard era.

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 was tasked with following 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.

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 will complete a five-game home stand against Baylor before traveling to play No. 16 West Virginia at 5 p.m. (CST) on Saturday in Morgantown, West Virginia. Tech was 2-1 against the Mountaineers last season, winning both regular-season meetings before taking a loss at the Big 12 Championships in Kansas City.

Don't take it for granted.

Get ready for another fight.

??#4To1 | #WreckEm?? pic.twitter.com/2FCHSrSdB4
— Texas Tech Basketball (@TexasTechMBB) January 5, 2020