PREVIEW: vs. TCU

Monday, February 10

Lubbock, Texas

8 p.m.

Texas Tech Athletics

TCU

February 09, 2020 | Men's Basketball

GAME NOTES ESPN2 RADIO BROADCAST TTU CAREER STATS

Red Raiders vs. Horned Frogs | 8 p.m., Monday | Lubbock, Texas | TV: ESPN2 | RADIO: TTSN

By: Wes Bloomquist

LUBBOCK, Texas – Texas Tech will look to avenge a loss and extend a winning streak when it hosts TCU at 8 p.m. on Monday at the United Supermarkets Arena.

The Red Raiders (15-8, 6-4 Big 12) are coming off an impressive comeback win at Texas where they overcame a 16-point first-half deficit, while the Horned Frogs (13-10, 4-6 Big 12) dropped their fifth straight game with a 60-46 loss to No. 3 Kansas on Saturday. TCU earned a 65-54 win over Tech in the first matchup between the two teams this season on Jan. 21 in Fort Worth to snap a four-game losing streak to the Red Raiders. The Red Raiders, who are at No. 20 in the NCAA NET Rankings, come into the game on a two-game winning streak after earning a 69-61 win over Oklahoma last Tuesday.

With a 73.0 winning percentage (187-69) as a NCAA coach, Texas Tech head coach Chris Beard has the ninth best percentage among active coaches and is 91-39 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 5-2 against TCU. The Red Raiders are led in scoring by freshman Jahmi'us Ramsey (15.8 ppg.) who is third in the Big 12 and graduate transfer Chris Clarke who is at 7.1 rebounds and 5.2 assists per game along with a 2.2 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 91.2 percent (197 of 216) and is seventh nationally this season at 91.6 percent, while TJ Holyfield leads the team with 1.5 blocks per game including 16 the past four games. Beard was named the 2019 AP National Coach of the Year and the 2018 and 2019 Big 12 Coach of the Year.

Texas Tech comes into this week leading the Big 12 with 15.6 assists per game and 358 total assists and is second in the conference with a 44.8 shooting percentage, a 76.2 free-throw percentage, shooting 34.5 on 3-pointers and 16.39 turnovers forced per game. The team's turnovers forced per game average ranks 25th nationally, while the assists per game is at 27th in the NCAA. Tech's defense is limiting opponents to 63.7 points per game and to 40.6 percent shooting with nine opponents being held under 60 after limiting the Longhorns to 57 on Saturday. Tech has shot over 45 percent in 11 games and have made double figure 3-pointers in three games. The Red Raiders had a season-high 11 3-pointers against Long Island and West Virginia and also had 10 3-pointers last Tuesday against Oklahoma when they went 10-for-18.

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 and an appearance in the NCAA tournament this season would be the first time in program history that the Red Raiders have made the tournament three straight seasons. At this point last season, Tech was also 6-4 and won its final eight games to secure the conference's regular-season championship.

GAME COVERAGE: The game between Texas Tech and Texas will be broadcasted on ESPN2 with Clay Matvick and Chris Spatola 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.

BIG 12: The Red Raiders are currently tied with West Virginia for third in the conference standings with 6-4 records and a split in their regular-season series. Baylor is atop the standings with a 10-0 record followed by Kansas which is at 9-1 in conference play. Oklahoma is fifth at 5-5, followed by TCU and Texas which are both at 4-6 in Big 12 play coming into the week.

ATTENDANCE: Along with winning on their home court, the Red Raider fans are establishing themselves as one of the top fan bases in the nation. The program has had four sellouts this season (Eastern Illinois, Bethune-Cookman, Baylor, Iowa State) and are averaging 13,925 per game which ranks 16th nationally, second in the Big 12 and is the best in the state of Texas.

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. 20 in the NCAA NET Rankings through Feb. 9 after the win over the Longhorns. 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 14 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 98 games (73 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.
Holyfield recorded a season-high five blocked shots against Texas on Saturday and also led the team with eight rebounds. He is averaging 9.3 points and 5.1 rebounds per game and is sixth in the Big 12 with 1.48 blocked shots per game. A grad transfer from SFA, Holyfield has scored 1,295 points in his career where he has played and started in 124 games. He has recorded three or more blocks in six games this season with four in games against Kansas and West Virginia before having three last week against OU and then the five at UT. Holyfield matched a season-high with 21 points last week against OU when he went 8-for-12 from the field and was 2 of 2 on 3-pointers after scoring 19 at Kansas with a season-high three 3-pointers. He leads the Red Raiders with a 54.2 shooting percentage and 34 blocked shots. Along with scoring 21 against OU, he also had 21 in a non-conference win over Houston Baptist and 20 against Bethune-Cookman. Those performances earned him Big 12 Newcomer of the Week on Nov. 11, 2019. In Big 12 play, Holyfield is averaging 9.5 points and 5.1 rebounds per game. Clarke is a grad transfer who played three seasons at Virginia Tech before transferring to Texas Tech. He is averaging 7.1 rebounds, 5.2 assists and 5.9 points per game for the Red Raiders and comes into this week having scored 863 points, securing 680 rebounds and contributing 329 assists through 102 games in his career. A guard from Virginia Beach, Virginia, Clarke leads the Red Raiders with two double-doubles this season with 11 points and 10 rebounds against Iowa and then 14 points and 11 rebounds against Southern Miss. He recorded a career-high 11 assists in the win over Houston Baptist and is coming off a game against the Longhorns where he had eight points, four assists and four rebounds in the win. Clarke, who was named the Big 12 Preseason Newcomer of the Year and Big 12 Newcomer of the Week on Jan. 23 after averaging a double-double in wins over Southern Miss and UTRGV, has led Tech in rebounding 13 games this season with a high of 12 coming against Tennessee State and Louisville.

A guard from Italy, Moretti is averaging 13.1 points per game after scoring seven on Saturday at Texas where he also had a career-high six rebounds. In his third season at Tech, he has scored 867 career points with 148 made 3-pointers and going 197-for-216 from the line. He's averaging 12.8 points per game through 10 conference games this season with a career-high 25 points against West Virginia two weeks ago after dropping 15 against Kentucky in the final non-conference game on the schedule. Moretti has started 61 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 21 of 23 games this season and in 73 of 98 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 9-for-9 display against the Mountaineers. Moretti has led Tech in scoring five times this season and 10 times in his career.

Ramsey has led Texas Tech in scoring 10 times this season in 19 games played after scoring 18 points at Texas on Saturday with 14 coming in the second half. A freshman from Arlington, Ramsey leads the Red Raiders and is third in the Big 12 with 15.8 points per game including a team-high 15 points in the first matchup against the Horned Frogs. Through 10 conference games, Ramsey is averaging 15.6 points per game with a high of 26 coming at Kansas where he went 5-for-8 on 3-pointers a game after he scored 21 against West Virginia where he also was 5 of 8 from beyond the arc. At 44.6 percent, he leads the Big 12 on 3-point shooting percentage where he has made three or more 3-pointers in eight games. At Texas, Ramsey was 2-for-2 on 3-pointers and 6-for-7 from the field. For the season, he's shooting 46.0 percent which ranks sixth in the conference. He is a two-time Big 12 Newcomer of the Week selection and was named an All-Big 12 Preseason Honorable Mention selection. Ramsey scored a career-high 27 points in a win over Long Island where he hit five 3-pointers for the first of four times this season and has already scored 20 or more points in six of 19 games played. He missed four game due to a left hamstring injury he suffered with 10 minutes remaining against Iowa, but has started 13 straight games since his return. Along with his scoring, Ramsey is 13th in the Big 12 with 1.4 steals per game and is pulling down 4.2 rebounds per game.

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.

Terrence Shannon, Jr. is coming off a game at Texas where he scored 13 points and had six rebounds to take his freshman-year average to 11.4 points per game and 4.6 rebounds. A guard from Chicago, Shannon leads the Red Raiders with 82 free throws made (83.7 percent) and has scored in double figures in 13 of 21 games played. He scored a career-high 24 points in his hometown return at DePaul on Dec. 4 where he was 9-for-18 from the field, hit two 3-pointers and was 4-for-5 from the free-throw line. Shannon scored a conference-high 23 points in the home win over West Virginia after going 12-for-14 from the free-throw line and also making 5 of 8 shots from the field. He had a season-high 11 rebounds at Kansas and also had eight points against the Jayhawks. Shannon was named the Big 12 Newcomer of the Week on Dec. 16, 2019 after scoring 18 points against Southern Miss and 13 in the win over Louisville. He comes into the second matchup against TCU averaging 10.4 points per game in conference play, including scoring 10 in the first matchup.

Edwards provided 10 points at Texas and 17 against Oklahoma last week and is now averaging 11.8 points per game this season and 12.3 in Big 12 play. A sophomore from Arlington, Edwards was named the Big 12 Player of the Week on Jan. 20 after he scored a career-high 24 points at Kansas State and then scored 22 against Iowa State with a career-high five 3-pointers. He has scored in double figures in 13 games this season and had a career-high nine rebounds at West Virginia to help bolster a 4.3 rebounds per game average. He comes into the second matchup against TCU having scored 479 points through 61 games in his career. Edwards has started all 23 games this season after playing a reserve role in all 38 last season as a freshman where he averaged 5.5 points and 2.2 rebounds per game. At TCU, he scored nine points and also had four assists and five rebounds.

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 the four at Texas, while Benson is at 2.0 points and 1.5 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 2.3 rebounds per game after leading Tech with seven rebounds against OU to go along with his scoring and also has 19 steals. He had a career-high two blocked shots against the Longhorns in the nine-block game by the Red Raiders. McCullar missed both games against West Virginia and Kansas due to being in concussion protocol before returning to play 19 minutes against the Sooners. He's currently shooting 47.1 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 six 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 11-4 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 in the final non-conference game.

TCU REPORT: Desmond Bane leads the Horned Frogs and is second in the Big 12 by averaging 16.4 points per game, including scoring a game-high 27 points against the Red Raiders in the first matchup after going 6-for-8 on 3-pointers. Ban also had six rebounds in the win over Tech and is eighth in the conference with 3.48 assists per game. Kevin Samuel leads TCU with 8.7 rebounds per game and tops the Big 12 with 2.83 blocked shots per game. Samuel recorded a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds against the Red Raiders and also had two blocked shots in the win in Fort Worth. Bane and Samuel accounted for 38 of TCU's 65 points in the win over the Red Raiders and had half of their 34 rebounds. RJ Nembhard is adding 12.3 points and 3.36 assists per game, but was limited to five points in the first matchup. Bane is second in the Big 12 behind Ramsey at 43.2 percent on 3-pointers and is also eighth in the conference with 1.6 steals per game.

TCU is shooting 34.1 percent on 3-pointers this season and is fourth in the conference by limiting teams to 63.52 points per game. The Horned Frogs are second in the conference with 4.96 blocked shots per game and leads the Big 12 with 8.57 3-pointers made per game. They were 8-for-20 on 3-pointers against the Red Raiders.

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 91-39 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 nine wins away from 100 at Tech, Beard is 187-69 as a collegiate head coach after prior leadership at Little Rock, Angelo State and McMurry.

A NEW SHINE: Through 15 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 9.3.

BLOCK PARTY: Texas Tech is averaging 4.0 blocks per game, but dominated at Texas on Feb. 8 with nine blocked shots. Holyfield led the way with five blocks, while McCullar had two and Shannon and Ramsey had one each. The nine blocks were one shy of a Big 12 program record and the most since the team had 11 last season in the season opener against Incarnate Word. The program record in a Big 12 is 10 which has been accomplished four times – most recently against TCU on Jan. 18, 2016.

UP NEXT: Texas Tech will return to action against Oklahoma State at noon on Saturday in Stillwater. The Red Raiders won the first matchup of the season against the Cowboys with an 85-50 win on Jan. 4 in the conference opener at the USA with Ramsey leading the way with 18 points. Tech is 23-25 all-time against OSU, including going just 5-for-23 in Stillwater. The Red Raiders are on a three-game winning streak against the Cowboys after sweeping last year's regular-season series.