PREVIEW: at Texas

LUBBOCK, Texas – Texas Tech brings a four-game winning streak over Texas into a 3 p.m. matchup on Saturday against the Longhorns at the Frank Erwin Center.

The Red Raiders (14-8, 5-4 Big 12) are coming off a 69-61 win over Oklahoma on Tuesday, while the Longhorns (14-8, 4-5 Big 12) took a 69-58 loss at No. 3 Kansas on Monday. Tech and Texas will be meeting for the first time this season after the Red Raiders swept the series last season with a 68-62 win in Austin on Jan. 12, 2019 before a 70-51 win in their home finale on March 4, 2019 in Lubbock. In Tech's win over OU, TJ Holyfield matched a season-high with 21 points while Kyler Edwards scored 17, Davide Moretti had 13 and Kevin McCullar led the team with seven rebounds.

With a 72.9 winning percentage (186-69) as a NCAA coach, Texas Tech head coach Chris Beard has the ninth best percentage among active coaches and is 90-39 leading the Red Raiders. Beard, who graduated from Texas in 1995 and was a student manager for Tom Penders with the Longhorns, has led Tech to an 11-2 record at home this season and to a 61-7 record at home over the past four years. He is 5-3 against Texas. The Red Raiders are led in scoring by freshman Jahmi'us Ramsey (15.7 ppg.) who is fourth in the Big 12 and graduate transfer Chris Clarke who is at 7.2 rebounds and 5.2 assists per game along with a 2.30 assist-to-turnover ratio which all rank in the top-10 within the Big 12. Davide Moretti is the NCAA active career leader in free-throw percentage at 91.0 percent (193 of 212) and is eighth nationally this season at 91.1 percent. Beard was named the 2019 AP National Coach of the Year and the 2018 and 2019 Big 12 Coach of the Year.

Texas Tech leads the Big 12 with 16.0 assists per game, 16.55 turnovers forced per game and with 351 total assists. The Red Raiders rank 23rd nationally in assists per game and are second in the conference with a 76.1 shooting percentage at the free-throw line, 344 free throws made, a 34.7 percentage on 3-pointers and are third with a 1.14 assist-to-turnover ratio and 73.4 points per game. Tech has recorded eight games where it has shot over 40 percent from beyond the arc after going 10 of 18 on Tuesday against Oklahoma and has limited 10 opponents to 30 percent or lower. The Red Raiders are currently shooting 44.7 percent from the field and are limiting opponents to 40.9 percent. The Longhorns rank second in the Big 12 8.4 3-pointers made per game and are fourth with 96 total blocks. UT, which is 9-3 overall at home and 2-2 on its home court in conference play, is scoring 65.9 points per game and is allowing 63.9.

BIG 12: Texas Tech is currently in fourth place in the Big 12 standings through nine games. The Red Raiders, who were also 5-4 through nine conference games last season, are one game behind West Virginia in the conference standings. Baylor (9-0) is the top-ranked team in the nation and unblemished through the first half of conference play, while Kansas (8-1) is second in the standings with its lone loss coming to the Bears. Texas, Oklahoma and TCU are tied for fifth at 4-5 followed by Iowa State (2-7), Kansas State (2-7) and Oklahoma State (1-8). This weekend's matchups include: Kansas at TCU, WVU at Oklahoma, Oklahoma State at Baylor and Kansas State at Iowa State.

GAME COVERAGE: The game between Texas Tech and Texas will be broadcasted on ESPN2 with Chuckie Kempf and Tim Welsh 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 has won four in row over Texas and is now 60-86 in the all-time series. The Red Raiders earned a 68-62 win over the Longhorns last season in Austin to snapped a 22-game losing streak to Texas at the Frank Erwin Center. Tech is 22-49 all-time in Austin coming into Saturday's game. Tech has four winning streaks of four games or more against the Longhorns in program history with the most consecutive wins against Texas being 10 games.

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 and NCAA National Championship Final for the first time in program history. Tech is 8-2 in the NCAA Tournament over the past two years after making the 2018 NCAA Elite Eight and reaching the NCAA National Championship Final. The 8-2 mark is the best in the nation over that span.

IN THE PROS: Texas Tech is currently represented in the NBA by Jarrett Culver (Minnesota), Matt Mooney (Cleveland), Zhaire Smith (Philadelphia) and Tariq Owens (Phoenix). From last year's team, Norense Odiase plays for the Northern Arizona Suns and Brandone Francis is on the Iowa Wolves roster in the G-League. Culver was selected No. 6 in the 2019 NBA Draft after Smith went No. 16 in the 2018 NBA Draft with both players selected by Phoenix before draft-night trades. Owens and Mooney are both on two-way contracts.

POLL REPORT: Texas Tech dropped out of the national rankings last week after being ranked for six straight weeks in the Associated Press Top 25. Tech is at No. 30 in the NCAA NET Rankings through Feb. 2. Tech, which was at No. 18, fell out after the pair of losses to TCU and Kentucky. The team has been ranked in 10 of 13 polls this season, including starting at No. 13 in the preseason ranking for the highest point in program history following its run to the NCAA National Championship Final last season.

PLAYER NOTES: Texas Tech is led by junior Davide Moretti who has competed in 97 games (72 wins) with the Red Raiders, sophomore Kyler Edwards, a dynamic freshmen class 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. Moretti is coming off a game against Oklahoma where he scored 11 points with two 3-pointers. A junior from Italy, he is currently eighth nationally at 91.1 percent from the free-throw line (72 of 79) this season and seventh in the Big 12 by making 48 3-pointers. He is averaging 13.4 points per game this season where he has scored in double figures in 16 games this season and in 43 games in his career. Moretti has started 59 straight games for the Red Raiders after a sophomore season where he started all 38 and averaged 11.5 points per game, shot 49.8 percent from the field, 45.9 percent on 3-pointers and led the nation at 92.4 percent. He has made at least one 3-pointer in 20 of 22 games this season and in 72 of 97 games in his career. Moretti was named to the 2019 All-Big 12 Third Team and earned the NCAA Elite 90 Award last season before being selected to the Bob Cousy Award Watch List prior to the start of this season. Before his career-high 25-point performance last week against West Virginia, Moretti had a career-best 23 points earlier this season against Creighton where he made three 3-pointers. His free-throw prowess is highlighted by him going 12-for-12 from the line last season against Oklahoma State, an 8-for-8 showing to help knock off Louisville and then last week's 9-for-9 display against the Mountaineers. Moretti has led Tech in scoring five times this season and 10 times in his career.

Ramsey was named the Big 12 Newcomer of the Week for the second time this season on Monday after he went off for 26 points at Kansas and 21 against West Virginia last week. He followed the performances and award by providing 13 points on 5-for-10 shooting against Oklahoma on Tuesday and now leads the Red Raiders with 15.7 points per game this season to go along with 4.3 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 1.4 steals per game. A freshman from Arlington, Ramsey has scored in double figures in 14 of 18 games played and has dropped 20 or more in a team-leading six games. He recorded his career-high with 27 points against Long Island where he was 10-for-16 from the field with five 3-pointers after he had scored 25 against Houston Baptist the week before. His third 20-point performance came against CSU Bakersfield and then again against Baylor when he was 5-for-10 on 3-pointers against the Bears. Ramsey has made five 3-pointers in four games this season after going 5-for-8 in the games against WVU and KU last week and then went 2-for-4 on 3-pointers against the Sooners on Tuesday. He's currently 43 of 99 (43.4 percent) from beyond the arc and has made at lead one 3-pointer in 15 of his 18 games played. Ramsey was an All-Big 12 Preseason Honorable Mention selection and earned Big 12 Newcomer of the Week on Nov. 25 after his 27-point performance against LIU. He has led Tech in scoring in nine of 18 games he's played in.

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.

Holyfield matched his season-high by scoring 21 points against Oklahoma on Tuesday after he went 8 of 12 from the field, including going 2-for-2 on 3-pointers. He also had 19 points last Saturday at Kansas where he was 3-for-5 on 3-pointers and also had eight rebounds. Holyfield is averaging 9.6 points per game and is averaging 5.0 rebounds per game. He leads Tech and is seventh in the Big 12 with 1.3 blocked shots per game with 29 overall this season after having three against Oklahoma following four blocks at Kansas and versus West Virginia. A grad transfer from SFA, Holyfield is the most experienced player on the roster having played and started in 123 games in his career. He played his first three seasons at SFA before sitting out last season due to injury and then making the move to Lubbock as a graduate transfer. He has scored 1,293 points in his career and also has 705 rebounds and 162 blocked shots. An Albuquerque, New Mexico native, Holyfield also scored 21 points in a win over Houston Baptist on Nov. 13 after going for 20 points against Bethune-Cookman. He earned Big 12 Newcomer of the Week after those performances and will play at Texas for the first time in his career having scored in double figures in nine games this season. Holyfield has 11 blocked shots in the past three games where he is also 6-for-8 on 3-pointers. For the season he has made 11 3-pointers and leads Tech by shooting 55.0 percent from the field.

Edwards comes into the game against Texas averaging 11.9 points, 4.4 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game. A sophomore from Arlington, Edwards scored 17 points against Oklahoma on Tuesday after going 7-for-10 from the field and 3 of 4 on 3-pointers. For the season, he has scored in double figures in 12 games with a career-high 24 coming at Kansas State on Jan. 14 when he went 9-for-14 from the field with three 3-pointers. He has scored 20 or more points three times this season, dropping 20 on CSU Bakersfield in the final game of the 2019 calendar year and then following the KSU performance by scoring 22 against Iowa State where he hit a career-high five 3-pointers. A green-light shooter for the Red Raiders, he is third on the team with 32 3-pointers and has made three or more 3-pointers in five games this season after hitting 3 of 4 against the Sooners. Edwards has started all 22 games this season after playing a reserve role in all 38 as a freshman where he averaged 5.5 points per game. He has scored 469 points and has secured 182 rebounds through 60 games in his career. He was named the Big 12 Player of the Week on Jan. 20 after his performances against KSU and ISU.

Shannon is averaging 11.4 points and 4.6 rebounds per game, including scoring a career-high 24 points at DePaul and pulling down a career-best 11 rebounds last Saturday at No. 3 Kansas. A freshman from Chicago, Shannon leads the Red Raiders with 81 made free throws (84.4 percent) and has scored in double figures in 12 of the 20 games that he has played in. Shannon has started 18 games, played two as a reserve and missed two games due to injury. He has played in six straight games after missing two, including going off for 23 points in a home win over West Virginia where he was 12-for-14 on free throws and 5 of 8 from the field. The 23-point effort gave him two games with 20 or more points scored after he had previously dropped his career-high of 24 in his hometown against DePaul by going 9-for-18 from the field and 4 of 5 from the free-throw line. He's hit five or more free throws in six games this season and is currently shooting 45.2 percent from the field. He was limited to a season-low one point against Oklahoma on Tuesday where he had two rebounds and three assists. At Kansas last Saturday, he had his season-high 11 rebounds and also added eight points that included going 4-for-4 from the free-throw line. Shannon was named the Big 12 Newcomer of the Week on Dec. 16 following his performance against DePaul and also scoring 13 in the win over Louisville in New York.

Clarke ranks second in the Big 12 with 5.2 assists per game, is third with a 2.30 assist-to-turnover ratio and is eighth with 7.2 rebounds per game. Selected as the Big 12 Preseason Newcomer of the Year, Clarke leads Tech with two double-doubles coming with 11 points and 10 rebounds against Iowa and 14 points and 11 rebounds against Southern Miss. A 6-foot-6 guard from Virginia Beach, Clarke is in his first season at Texas Tech after playing three seasons at Virginia Tech. He had seven assists and six rebounds against West Virginia, but was limited due to injury at Kansas where he played six minutes and then was held scoreless against OU in eight minutes. Last week's games against WVU and KU followed having seven rebounds and five assists in the game against Kentucky. He's averaging 5.8 points per game this season, including a season-high 17 against Creighton in Las Vegas. A graduate transfer, he has scored 855 points, has 676 rebounds and 325 assists in his career. He leads the Red Raiders with six games in double-figure rebounding, while he's had 11 games with five assists or more. At Virginia Tech, Clarke recorded the first triple-double in program history with 12 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists against the Citadel and scored a career-high 22 points in games against Florida State and UMBC during his sophomore season. He's currently 50th nationally with 115 total assists.

Avery Benson and Kevin McCullar continue providing sparks from the bench for the Red Raiders with McCullar averaging 4.3 points per game after scoring six against Oklahoma and Kentucky in his past two games played and Benson at 2.4 points and 1.7 rebounds per game. A redshirt freshman from San Antonio, McCullar graduate high school early and enrolled at Texas Tech in the 2019 spring semester where he redshirted last season. He has played in a reserve role in 20 games this season and has scored 10 points in games against Kansas State, UTRGV and Long Island. A 6-foot-6 guard, he is averaging 2.4 rebounds per game after leading Tech with seven rebounds against OU to go along with his scoring and also has 19 steals. McCullar missed both games last week due to being in concussion protocol before returning to play 19 minutes against the Sooners. He's currently shooting 47.0 percent from the field and had a season-high five rebounds in the wins over Louisville and KSU before leading Tech in rebounding for the first time this season with seven on Tuesday. Benson, who is in his third year at Texas Tech, is a redshirt sophomore from Arkansas who scored a career-high 10 points against Louisville by going 3-for-3 from the field with a 3-pointer. He was coming off a game against Iowa State where he had three points, but has been held scoreless in the past five games. He has a Big 12 career-high of five points at WVU in the first matchup where he also provided four rebounds in 18 minutes. Benson played in 20 games last season and is currently 8 of 17 (47.1 percent) on 3-pointers and 7 of 7 from the free-throw line this year. Two players on the Tech roster have not played this season with Joel Ntambwe having his NCAA transfer request denied and Tyreek Smith missing all 18 games due to injury. Ntambwe averaged 11.8 points and 5.5 rebounds per game at UNLV as a freshman last season before deciding to transfer to Tech. He scored a career-high 31 points against Wyoming last year where he started all 31 games and recorded four double-doubles.

Texas Tech is currently 10-4 with the starting rotation of Holyfield, Moretti, Edwards, Shannon and Ramsey. The starting five of Holyfield, Clarke, Moretti, Edwards and Ramsey had started the four games before Shannon returned to the starting five against Kentucky last Saturday.

LONGHORN REPORT: Texas comes into this weekend with a 14-8 overall record and 4-5 in Big 12 play after taking a 69-58 loss at No. 3 Kansas on Monday night. Matt Coleman III leads the Longhorns with 12.7 points per game and 90 assists this season, while Andrew Jones, Courtney Ramey and Jericho Sims are each just over 10 points per game. Sims tops the Texas roster with 8.1 rebounds per game, while Jase Febres leads the Horns with 55 3-pointers made where he is shooting 37.7 percent. Fabres is averaging 9.7 points per game for the Longhorns who are making 8.4 3-pointers per game this season. Coleman led Texas with 20 points against the Jayhawks on Monday after going 8-for-17 from the field, while Sims led the team with nine rebounds to go along with 17 points. In their win over Iowa State last Saturday, Coleman, Sims and Ramey each had 14 points while Donovan Williams came off the bench to score 13. Febres leads the Big 12 with 146 3-pointers attempted and Sims is eighth in the conference with 1.27 blocked shots per game.

Texas will return to action after hosting the Red Raiders by playing No. 1 Baylor at 8 p.m. on Monday at the Frank Erwin Center.

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 90-39 record coming into the game against the Longhorns. 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 10 wins away from 100 at Tech, Beard is 186-69 as a collegiate head coach after prior leadership at Little Rock, Angelo State and McMurry.

A NEW SHINE: Through 14 weeks, Texas Tech has already had four different players earn Big 12 Newcomer of the Week with Ramsey earning the award twice. The weekly award has gone to TJ Holyfield (Nov. 11), Jahmi'us Ramsey (Nov. 25/Feb. 3), 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.

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. Burnett was named to the McDonald's All American Games on Jan. 23 to become the first player in Red Raider history to earn the honor. 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, who was named to the 2020 Naismith High School Award Watch List, 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 signed a two-way contract with the Cleveland Cavaliers on Jan. 15 after playing with the Memphis Hustle in the G-League, while Owens established a new program single-season record with 92 blocked shots and was with Odiase on the Northern Arizona Suns (G-League) before signing a two-way contract on Jan. 15 with the Suns. 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) and then the 76-74 overtime decision against Kentucky, Texas Tech is now 51-52 all-time in overtime contests and 4-6 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.

SPREADING THE WEALTH: Davide Moretti scored a career-high 25 points in the win over WVU after hitting four 3-pointers, while Terrence Shannon, Jr. went for 23 with a 12 of 14 performance from the line and Jahmi'us Ramsey went for 21 points with his third game of the season with five 3-pointers. The Red Raiders had three players score 20 or more points in a game for the first time since Jan. 11, 2017 against Kansas when Keenan Evans had 25, Niem Stevenson went for 22 and Zach Smith scored 21 in an 80-79 loss at the USA. The starting five of Ramsey, Moretti, Shannon and Edwards are all averaging in double-figures this season while Holyfield is at 9.1.

UP NEXT: Texas Tech will return to Lubbock to host TCU at 8 p.m. on Monday at the United Supermarkets Arena. The Red Raiders are 11-2 at home this season and 4-1 in Big 12 play on their home court. The Horned Frogs earned a 65-54 win over TTU in the first matchup this season on Jan. 21 in Fort Worth.

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Players Mentioned

Brandone Francis

Avery Benson

Chris Clarke

Jarrett Culver

Kyler Edwards

TJ Holyfield

Kevin McCullar

Matt Mooney

Davide Moretti

Joel Ntambwe

Norense Odiase

Tariq Owens

Jahmi'us Ramsey

Terrence Shannon, Jr.

Tyreek Smith