RED RAIDER PREVIEW: at Texas Longhorns

LUBBOCK, Texas – On a two-game winning streak and having won the past two seasons in Austin, No. 15 Texas Tech takes on No. 4 Texas at 8 p.m. on Wednesday at the Frank Erwin Center before hosting No. 2 Baylor on Saturday in a pair of nationally ranked Big 12 matchups.

The Red Raiders (10-3, 3-2 Big 12) are coming off wins over Kansas State and Iowa State last week, while the Longhorns (10-1, 4-0 Big 12) secured victories against the Cyclones before an overtime thriller over West Virginia on Saturday. Tech is 2-0 on the road this season after rolling to a 91-64 win in Ames last Saturday led by 19 points from Kyler Edwards and a double-double from Kevin McCullar following an 82-71 victory over KSU where Terrence Shannon, Jr. went off for a season-high 22 points. Mac McClung leads the Red Raiders with 15.3 points per game after going for 18 in the win at Iowa State where he was 8-for-10 from the field. The Red Raiders shot a season-high 58.9 percent from the field in Ames and are now shooting 44.7 percent for the season while limiting its opponents to just 39.0 percent.

The Longhorns are 5-1 on their home court this season with their only loss this season coming in a 68-64 decision to No. 3 Villanova on Dec. 6, 2020. Texas is coming off a thrilling win at West Virginia with Andrew Jones hitting a last-second 3-pointer to extend a six-game winning streak. The Longhorns have four players averaging in double figures in Courtney Ramey (13.8), Matt Coleman III (13.6), Jones (13.4) and freshman Greg Brown leading the team with 7.9 rebounds per game to go along with 12.0 points per. Texas leads the Big 12 by limiting opponents to 38.3 percent shooting and 27.1 percent on 3-pointers.

MEDIA: The game will be televised on ESPN2 with Rich Hollenberg and Fran Fraschilla on the call along with on the radio with Geoff Haxton and Chris Level broadcasting the game. Fans can listen to the radio call locally on Double T 97.3 and through the Texas Tech Sports Network.

RANKINGS: Texas Tech has risen to No. 15 in the Associated Press Top 25 and USA TODAY Coaches Poll and are also No. 18 in the NET Rankings and No. 13 in KenPom.com. Tech, which was at No. 18 (AP) and No. 19 (Coaches) last week, has been ranked throughout the season, starting at No. 14 in the AP Preseason Top 25 and being as high as No. 13 in the poll. The Red Raiders are fifth in adjusted defensive efficiency and are sixth in the nation by limiting opponents to only 58.0 points per game and with a 7.2 turnover margin advantage. The team is second in the nation and leads the Big 12 with 241 free throws made and 340 trips to the line after going 18-for-21 in its 91-64 road victory at Iowa State last Saturday.

Gonzaga (12-0) remains the top-ranked team in the nation, followed by the Bears (11-0), Villanova (8-1), Texas (10-1) and Iowa (11-2) in the top-5. Kansas (10-2) is at No. 6 this week, while West Virginia (9-4) is No. 13. Oklahoma State received 28 votes in this week's poll.

The Red Raiders are tied for the Big 12 lead with 54 blocked shots (along with Kansas) this season with Marcus Santos-Silva at 16 and Tyreek Smith at 12, while the team is second in the conference by holding opponents to 39.0 percent shooting, forcing 18.31 turnovers per game, having only 11.2 turnovers per game on offense and accumulating 99 steals. McClung leads the Big 12 with 199 points this season and is second with 54 made free throws, while Santos-Silva is second in the conference in blocks. Kyler Edwards, who led Tech with 19 points in the win at ISU, leads the Big 12 with a 3.0 assist-to-turnover ratio with him having 39 assists and only 13 turnovers through 13 games. Edwards has made 24 3-pointers after hitting three against the Cyclones which ranks as the fifth most in the conference.

SERIES HISTORY: Tech has won five of the last six games in the series, including the last two in Austin. The Longhorns snapped a five-game losing streak to the Red Raiders with their win in Lubbock last year. Meeting for the 149th time, this is only the fourth ranked vs. ranked matchup in the series. Tech is 0-3 in those matchups. Texas leads all-time series 87-61… Texas leads 49-23 in Austin… Texas won 68-58 in the last matchup on Feb. 29, 2020… Beard graduated from the University of Texas in 1995 and was a student manager for Tom Penders. Before winning in Austin two years ago, Tech had not beaten the Longhorns in Austin since a 78-58 win on Feb. 24, 1996 – a string of 22 straight losses.

ROAD STREAK: Texas Tech is looking to win three straight road games in Big 12 play for the first time since the 1996-97 season when it started with wins at Oklahoma State, Oklahoma and Kansas State before falling at Iowa State. No Red Raider team has ever started a Big 12 season with four straight road wins. Tech started the 2018-19 season with road wins over West Virginia and Texas before falling at Baylor.

RED RAIDER REPORT: McClung is averaging 18.4 points per game through five Big 12 games after going off for his 18 points on 8-for-10 shooting last Saturday in Ames. A junior from Gate City, Virginia, McClung has scored in double figures in 10 of 13 games this season with a high of 21 points coming in games against Kansas and Oklahoma State. McClung also scored 20 against Northwestern State and Troy to give him four games with 20 or more points this season. A transfer from Georgetown, he has scored 909 points through 63 games of his career and also has 143 assists. In Big 12 play, McClung is shooting 47.0 percent from the field and is 22-for-29 at the free-throw line. He has recorded three or more assists in seven games with a high of six in non-conference play against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. McClung is 54-for-67 (80.6 percent) at the line this season. Shannon is coming off his top assist game of the season after going for his season-high of 22 points in the win over Kansas State last Tuesday. A sophomore from Chicago, Shannon is averaging 17.4 points per game in Big 12 play and 13.6 for the season after scoring 11 at Iowa State. He's scored in double figures in 10 of 12 games that he's played in and has five or more rebounds in eight games. Shannon began Big 12 play with 20 points against Kansas and 21 in the road win at Oklahoma. On the Julius Ervin Award Watch List, Shannon has scored 447 points and has 178 rebounds through 41 games in his Texas Tech career.

Santos-Silva is the lone senior on the Red Raider roster this season and is currently averaging 8.7 points and 6.2 rebounds per game. A VCU transfer, he earned his bachelor's degree last summer before enrolling in graduate courses at Texas Tech. Santos-Silva leads Tech and is second in the conference with 16 blocked shots this season, including having four against Abilene Christian and Oklahoma State for career-highs. He has scored 941 points, accumulated 108 blocks and secured 700 rebounds through 110 games in his collegiate career after having six points and four rebounds at Iowa State. Santos-Silva scored a season-high 18 points and had seven rebounds in the win at Oklahoma and also had 14 points last week against Kansas State. He's scored in double figures in six games and leads Tech with two double-doubles. Santos-Silva had a season-high 13 rebounds in the opener against NSU where he also had 10 points and followed up by going for 12 points and 10 rebounds against Sam Houston in the second game of the season. Edwards has the most experience in a Red Raider jersey with 82 games played after going off for 19 points last Saturday at Iowa State. A junior guard, Edwards also had 19 points in the win over Abilene Christian for his season-high after going for a career-high 24 points as a sophomore at Kansas State. Edwards leads Tech with 24 3-pointers this season and now has 103 in his career after going 3-for-5 from beyond the arc against the Cyclones. He is averaging 10.6 points per game this season and leads the team with 39 assists. Edwards has scored 700 career points and has 176 assists through 82 games in his career. A freshman on the Final Four team, Edwards scored 12 points with three 3-pointers in the NCAA National Championship final against Virginia. He recorded his first career double-double this season with 13 points and 11 rebounds against Grambling and also had nine rebounds in the win at Oklahoma.

McCullar has played the past four games after missing the first nine due to an injury he suffered in preseason practice. A sophomore from San Antonio, McCullar recorded the first double-double of his career with 15 points and 11 rebounds at Iowa State and is currently averaging 10.3 points and 6.3 rebounds per game. The 15/11 game matched both of his career highs. He returned to the lineup against Incarnate Word with 11 points in 11 minutes before scoring nine against Oklahoma State and six against Kansas State. McCullar redshirted during the historic 2018-19 season before playing in 29 games (6 as a starter) last season – averaging 6.0 points and 3.2 rebounds per game. Micah Peavy has started 12 of 13 games to begin his freshman season and is averaging 6.0 points and 2.9 rebounds per game after scoring six points at Iowa State. A state champion and Class 6A Player of the Year at Duncanville High School, Peavy scored a career-high 14 points in the opener against Northwestern State and has a Big 12 best nine points last week against Kansas State. He also had six rebounds and eight points in the conference opener against Kansas. Jamarius Burton has made four starts this season and is averaging 4.8 points and 1.6 assists per game. In his first season at Tech after playing his first two years at Wichita State, Burton has scored 592 points and has 249 assists through 80 games in his career. Tyreek Smith is second on the team with 12 blocks, including a career-high three against Troy where he also scored seven points. Benson is a four-year player at Tech and the only player on the roster with a 2018 Elite 8 and 2019 NCAA Final Four ring. He has played in 61 career games and is currently 4-for-6 on 3-pointers this season after hitting another one in the win at Iowa State. Benson was 2-for-2 on 3-pointers against Incarnate Word for his season-high six points. His career-high came last season in the win over No. 1 Louisville on Dec. 10, 2019 at Madison Square Garden.

SECURING POSSESSION: Beard stresses a 10-or-less turnover game is one of the keys to victory in every game the Red Raiders play which the team has accomplished six times this season after only having nine in the win over Kansas State on Tuesday and 10 at Iowa State. Tech had only one turnover at halftime against the Cyclones to get out to a 24-point lead. The season highlight in the turnover category came against Corpus Christi where the team had only four which is a low in the Beard era. The four-turnover game was followed by only seven against Kansas and Incarnate Word. During his five seasons, Tech has committed 10 or less turnovers 57 times under Beard. The four turnovers against the Islanders were the first this season in single digits before the seven against the Jayhawks and UIW. The program's low turnover output was highlighted at the 2019 Final Four with only seven in a win over Michigan State and eight in the overtime loss to Virginia in the National Championship game. Tech currently has a plus-7.3 turnover margin.

FORCING THE ISSUE: Texas Tech forced 30 turnovers against Grambling for the most since the 2009 season opener against South Dakota. KU and OU both committed 16 turnovers against the Red Raider defense to begin Big 12 play and UIW committed 20. Tech has recorded 13 steals in two games this season, against Grambling and Northwestern State. The team had 11 steals at Iowa State with Santos-Silva, Peavy, McCullar and Shannon having two each. The 13 steals against Grambling and Northwestern State is the most steals in a game since a 15-steal game by the team against Rice on Dec. 16, 2017. Tech forced 15 turnovers at Iowa State.

GAME-BY-GAME TURNOVERS (TTU-OPPONENT): TTU 10-NSU 19; TTU 12-SAM 18; TTU 18-HOU 14; TTU 13-TROY 22; TTU 13-GRAM 30; TTU 16-ACU 22; TTU 4-TAMUCC 20; TTU 7-KU 16; TTU 13-OU 16; TTU 7-UIW 20; TTU 14-OSU 13; TTU 9-KSU 14.; TTU 10-ISU 15.

SHARING THE WEALTH: Texas Tech is averaging 13.9 assists per game after having 15 at Iowa State on 33 field goals and 11 on 24 made baskets against KSU. The team had 17 assists on 29 made baskets against UIW. The team has seven games with 15 or more assists. Tech had a season-high 25 assists in the opener against Northwestern State. Edwards has the individual high this season with seven in that game against NSU. Shannon led Tech with a career-high six assists at Iowa State. Five different players have led the team in assists in a game this season, led by Edwards who has four times.

STIFLING STARTS: The Texas Tech defense has been strong throughout the first 13 games, but especially solid in the first half where it has outscored its first 13 opponents by a combined 480-335 margin. Only eight of the first 13 opponents have scored over 20 points through the opening 20 minutes of games. ACU was limited to only 14 points in the opening 20 minutes and Sam Houston was at 15. The 14 points scored by ACU at the break was the lowest since Northwestern State was held to 10 points at halftime in 2018. TTU led 54-30 at halftime over Iowa State.

OUR LEADER: Beard is in his fifth season as the Texas Tech head coach where he has led the program to a 104-47 record, including an 8-2 mark in the NCAA Tournament. Beard was named the 2019 Associated Press National Coach of the Year and earned Big 12 Coach of the Year in 2018 and 2019. An assistant coach at Texas Tech under Bob and Pat Knight, Beard has amassed an impressive 13-52 record as a Division I head coach that started with one season at Little Rock where he was 30-5. He also has head coaching stops at Fort Scott Community College, Seminole State, McMurry and Angelo State in his collegiate career. Beard is the 17th head coach in Texas Tech history and reached 100 wins on Dec. 12, 2020 against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. He is the fastest Tech coach to reach that milestone following James Dickey (148 games), Bob Knight (150), Gerald Myers (152) and Polk Robison (170). Beard is now 200-77 as an NCAA head coach.

BEARD AT HOME (70-11, 29-10 Big 12)
2016-17: 16-3, 6-3 Big 12
2017-18: 17-1, 8-1 Big 12
2018-19: 17-1, 8-1 Big 12
2019-20: 13-4, 6-3 Big 12
2020-21: 7-2, 1-2 Big 12

THE STAFF: Beard is assisted this season by associate head coach Mark Adams, assistant coaches Ulric Maligi and Bob Donewald, Casey Perrin (Chief of Staff), Sean Sutton (Advisor/Player Development), John Reilly (Strength & Conditioning) and associate athletic trainer Mike Neal. Adams is entering his fifth season on Beard's staff and also assisted him at Little Rock. A 1979 graduate of Texas Tech, Adams is a former head coach at Clarendon College, Wayland Baptist, West Texas A&M, Texas-Pan American and Howard College. He earned 2019 TABC Assistant Coach of the Year and is a member of multiple hall of fames, most recently being inducted into the NJCAA's Men's Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame Class for 2020. Donewald is in his second season on the staff, but his first as an assistant. He has extensive experience in professional basketball and worked last season as the program's director of player development. Maligi is also in his second season on the staff and is widely respected as one of the top emerging assistants in the nation. He led the charge in the recruitment of this year's signing class which was the highest ranked in program history. Reilly, a Killeen, Texas native who competed on the BYU Track & Field team, is also in his fifth season having led the strength and conditioning each year for Beard. Neal is in his second season, coming over from Little Rock where he played basketball and was the team's athletic trainer during Beard's year leading the program.

UNCOMFORTABLE – BEARD EXPLAINS: "Being comfortable gets you beat every single time. You see it all the time in sports. You win a big game and the next time there's a letdown and a loss. We've all seen that. Life is the same way. You can have a great day at work and you could take the edge off. It takes a special person, we use the word 'elite', to remain uncomfortable. Coach Knight would talk a lot about when things were going good that we need to shake the tree from time to time. Everybody expects the best and have focus during times of adversity, but only the elite people can push themselves each day to stay uncomfortable. I think being uncomfortable is where growth comes from. Uncomfortable is what you have to be to compete in the Big 12. Our guys have embraced this. Each season we try to have a theme and with this year's group, we just feel that if we can stay uncomfortable we'll be where we need to be. We like our talent. We like our culture. If this team can keep pushing and not get too high or too low by staying uncomfortable right there in the middle, we think we have a great chance to grow."

RED RAIDER PREVIEW: at Texas Longhorns

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Players Mentioned

Jamarius Burton

Kyler Edwards

Mac McClung

Kevin McCullar

Micah Peavy

Marcus Santos-Silva

Terrence Shannon, Jr.

Tyreek Smith