RED RAIDER PREVIEW: vs. No. 13 Texas

Thursday, March 11

Kansas City, Missouri

8:30 p.m.

Texas Tech Athletics

No. 13 Texas

March 09, 2021 | Men's Basketball

TTU GAME NOTES PRESS CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT BRACKET Big 12 Basketball LONGHORN PREVIEW All-Big 12 Honors

No. 20 Texas Tech vs. No. 13 Texas | 8:30 p.m., Thursday | TV: ESPN2 | Kansas City

LUBBOCK, Texas – No. 20 Texas Tech is set to play No. 13 Texas in the 2021 Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship at 8:30 p.m. on Thursday in a quarterfinal matchup at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City. Tech is the six seed in the tournament and will look to knock off the third-seeded Longhorns for the third time this season to advance.

The Red Raiders (17-9, 9-8 Big 12) had won three in a row before finishing the regular season with a loss at No. 2 Baylor on Sunday, while the Longhorns (17-7, 11-6 Big 12) have won three straight following road wins at Iowa State, Oklahoma and TCU. Tech is 2-0 against Texas this season and has won seven of the last eight games in the series after a 68-59 win on Feb. 27 in Lubbock and a 79-77 victory in Austin on Jan. 13.

The TTU-UT winner advances to the semifinals where they will play at 8:30 p.m. on Friday against either Oklahoma, Iowa State or Kansas. The Jayhawks are the No. 2 seed in the tournament and will face the OU-ISU winner at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday in the quarterfinals. The Big 12 Championship final is set for 5 p.m. on Saturday on ESPN. Baylor is the top seed in the tournament after winning the 2021 Big 12 regular-season championship for the first time in program history.

Texas Tech enters the postseason leading the Big 12 by holding teams to 63.3 points per game (25th nationally) and is sixth in the nation with a 5.0 turnover margin advantage. The Red Raiders are second in the Big 12 with 10.9 turnovers per game, 15.9 turnovers forced per game and have hit 420 free throws this season which is the fifth most in the nation and second behind West Virginia in the conference. Tech has held 12 opponents under 60 points this season, including in three of the last four games to finish off the regular season.

Mac McClung leads the Red Raiders with 16.1 points per game, including scoring 22 points in the road win over the Longhorns while Terrence Shannon, Jr. is second on the team with 12.5 points per game. Kyler Edwards is averaging 14.8 points in the last four games after hitting four 3-pointers and leading the team with 18 points at Baylor. Edwards leads Tech with 50 3-pointers (43.1 percent) and 71 assists, while Marcus Santos-Silva tops the team with 6.4 rebounds per game and 32 blocked shots. Kevin McCullar is adding 10.1 points and 6.2 rebounds per game to give the Red Raiders four players in double figures going into the postseason.

The Longhorns are the No. 3 seed in the tournament after winning four of their last five with the only loss coming to the Red Raiders in Lubbock. Texas is averaging 74.9 points for the season after its 76-64 road win at TCU on Sunday night to complete a four-game road trip to finish the regular season. Andrew Jones leads UT with 14.9 points per game with 47 3-pointers made, while Courtney Ramey is second on the team with 13.6 points per game and has also hit 47 3-pointers. Matt Coleman III is at 12.4 ppg. and leads UT with 100 assists, while Greg Brown is at 6.7 rebounds and 10.3 points per game in his freshman season. Jones earned All-Big 12 First Team honors, while Coleman and Ramey were All-Big 12 Third Team Selections. Kai Jones was named the Big 12 Sixth Man of the Year in a season where he averaged 8.5 ppg. and 4.8 rpg. to go along with 19 blocked shots.

BIG 12 AWARDS: Four Red Raiders earned All-Big 12 honors on Monday with McClung headlining the group by being named the unanimous All-Big 12 Newcomer of the Year and also securing All-Big 12 Second Team and Big 12 All-Newcomer Team. Shannon earned All-Big 12 Third Team, while McCullar and Edwards were All-Big 12 Honorable Mention selections. McClung was named to the AP All-Big 12 First Team on Tuesday.

RANKINGS: Texas Tech moved to No. 20 in the Associated Press Top 25 and to No. 22 in the USA TODAY Coaches Poll to complete a regular season where the team was ranked in every poll. The Red Raiders enter the postseason at No. 17 in the NCAA NET Rankings and are No. 20 in Kenpom. TTU started at No. 14 in the AP Preseason Poll and would rise as high as No. 7 in the Feb. 15 poll. The No. 20 ranking this week is the lowest the team has been this season. The Red Raiders had been at No. 18 the past two weeks before falling back two spots following a three-game winning streak that was ended with a loss at No. 2 Baylor in the regular season finale.

TTU TOURNAMENT HISTORY: The Red Raiders are making their 24th appearance in the Big 12 Championship and are 14-23 all-time... Tech is a No. 6 seed for the first time… TTU has made the finals once, reaching the last day of the 2005 tournament before falling 72-68 to Oklahoma State… Tech is 5-7 all-time in quarterfinal games going into Thursday's matchup against UT… The Red Raiders are 2-4 all-time in the tournament against Texas with the most recent matchup resulting in a 73-69 victory in the 2018 Big 12 Championship quarterfinals with Keenan Evans leading the team with 25 points and Jarrett Culver having 11 rebounds… Tech and UT were scheduled to play in last year's tournament and were warming up on the court before the cancellation of the tournament and ultimately the season.

RED RAIDER REPORT: McClung leads the Red Raiders this season by scoring 16.1 points per game overall and 17.0 per Big 12 game. He was named the Big 12 Newcomer of Year and was selected to the All-Big 12 Second Team, Big 12 All-Newcomer Team and the AP All-Big 12 First Team. He comes into the postseason having 10 games where he's scored 20 or more this season with the most recent coming last Thursday with 20 points in the home finale against Iowa State. He scored 16 in the home win over Texas to help begin the three-game winning streak after going for 17 points at Oklahoma State and is averaging 12.8 ppg. in the last five games after being held to seven at Baylor. He was named the Big 12 Newcomer of the Week on Feb. 1 to honor his performances at West Virginia and LSU and was also named the Big 12 Player of the Week on Jan. 18 following a game-winner at Texas after his 24 points against Baylor. A junior Gate City, Virginia who transferred from Georgetown this season, he went for a season-high 30 points at West Virginia and then had 22 in the road win at LSU. For the season, McClung has made 43 3-pointers which is second on the team. He's also 101-for-124 at the free-throw line (81.5 percent) after going 5-for-6 at the line against the Cyclones but not getting to the line in Waco. McClung reached 1,000 points in his career at LSU and comes into the postseason with 1,128 points through 76 games in his collegiate career. He scored a career-high 38 points as a freshman for the Hoyas against Little Rock on Dec. 12, 2018. In his season-high against WVU, McClung went 11-for-21 from the field with four 3-pointers. He has made two or more 3-pointers in 14 games this season, four 3-pointers in two games and has made five or more free throws in 11 games. He has led Tech in scoring in 13 games this season and now has 51 games in his career scoring in double digits.

Shannon was named to the All-Big 12 Third Team after a regular season where he averaged 12.5 points and 4.1 rebounds in his sophomore year. He finished with 11 points by going 3-for-3 on 3-pointers at Baylor after going for 12 points on 4-for-7 shooting in the win over Iowa State in the home finale. A left-handed shooter from Chicago, he led Tech with 18 points at OSU where he made six shots and was 5-for-8 at the free-throw line and then had 11 points in the home win over the Longhorns back on Feb. 27 in Lubbock. He was named one of five finalists for the Julius Erving Award. He led the team with a season-high 23 in the win at LSU in the Big 12/SEC Challenge before going for 15 points against Oklahoma. Shannon has scored in double-digits in 19 games and 20 or more in four games coming into the postseason. Against LSU he also added 10 rebounds to his 23-point performance for his first career double-double. He would score the final six points of the win, first on a layup off a steal to take a 72-71 lead before knocking down four free throws to ice the game. He's currently 81-for-107 on free throws (75.7 percent) this season and is 168 of 212 (79.2 percent) for his career. Shannon has scored 596 points, has 223 rebounds and 54 steals through 54 games of his career. He scored a career-high 24 points last season as a freshman at DePaul and also had a career-best 11 rebounds at Kansas last season. Shannon has made 23 3-pointers this season through 25 games played after having nine through 29 games as a freshman. He is a Julius Erving Award Finalist this season after being named to the Big 12 All-Freshman Team last year. Shannon has now scored in double digits in 19 games this season, including going for 14 points against the Longhorns in Austin where he also had seven rebounds.

McCullar is an All-Big 12 Honorable Mention selection after a regular season where he finished eighth in the conference with 6.5 rebounds and third with 1.9 steals per game in Big 12 games. He's coming off scoring 11 points at Baylor after he secured seven rebounds in the win over Iowa State in the past two games. He started the three-game winning streak by going for 10 points, four steals, three assists and five rebounds in the win over Texas after a 12-point, seven-rebound output in the overtime loss at Oklahoma State five games ago. McCullar recorded his first career double-double at Iowa State with 15 points and 11 rebounds in his fourth game back from a preseason injury. He is now averaging 10.1 points and 6.2 rebounds for the season. He has had five or more rebounds in 13 of 17 games played this season, including five in a row before being limited to one rebound at Baylor. Leading the team with 1.6 steals per game, he had back-to-back four steal games against UT and OSU which matched a career high that he's now had five times through 46 games in his career. A redshirt sophomore from San Antonio, McCullar missed the first nine games of the season due to an injury suffered in the preseason but emerged as one of the top players in the conference. He has three double-digit rebounding performances in his career after also having 11 rebounds last season at Iowa State. McCullar scored a career-high 16 points in the win at Texas where he was 6-for-7 from the field, including going 2-for-2 on 3-pointers. McCullar redshirted during the historic run to the 2019 NCAA Final Four before playing in 29 games last season. He has now scored 346 points, has 63 steals and has 199 rebounds. He has recorded two or more steals in nine of 17 games played this season and also has 14 blocked shots (23 career).

Santos-Silva averaged 8.5 points and 6.4 rebounds per game through the regular season where he also led the Red Raiders with 1.2 blocks per game. He had 10 points, nine rebounds and a block in the last game against Texas and is coming off scoring eight points at Baylor. He had recorded 14 points, seven rebounds and two blocked shots in the win over Iowa State in Tech's final home game. He also produced 12 points and eight rebounds in the loss at KU where he reached the 1,000-point milestone in his career. He leads the Red Raiders with 1.2 blocks per game (32 total) this season with 12 in the past six games after having three blocks at Baylor. He recorded a career-high five assists in the win at Kansas State and now has 32 assists for the season after his four against TCU last Tuesday and then two more against ISU. Tech's only senior, Santos-Silva is in his first season with the program after transferring from VCU. He comes into the third matchup against Texas with 1,048 points in his career along with 786 rebounds and 124 blocks through 123 games. He has recorded two double-doubles this season with 10 points and 13 rebounds against Northwestern State before going for 12 points and 10 rebounds against Sam Houston State in the first two games of the year. He also had double-digit rebounding performances with the 11 rebounds against Baylor in their first matchup in Lubbock and then 12 rebounds against LSU in Baton Rouge. Santos-Silva scored a season-high 14 points in the first matchup against Kansas State and has 10 double-digit scoring games this season (six in-conference). At VCU, he had a pair of 26-point games highlighted by a 26-point, 22-rebound double-double against Rhode Island on March 15, 2019 and 16 double-doubles. He leads Tech with 32 blocks this season, including career-high performances with four blocks in games against Abilene Christian and the home game against Oklahoma State. He's led the team in rebounding in 10 games and is averaging 7.0 rebounds in the past five games.

Edwards is averaging 14.8 points and 3.3 assists over the past four games after leading Tech with 18 points and four assists on Sunday at Baylor. He is an All-Big 12 Honorable Mention selection after averaging 10.2 points, 4.7 rebounds and a team-leading 2.7 assists per game. He scored 11 points in the win over ISU after going off for a season-high 20 points and four assists against TCU. He also had four assists against in the win over Texas to go along with 10 points. At Baylor, Edwards was 4-for-6 on 3-pointers and 7 of 10 from the field to finish off the regular season. He leads Tech with 50 3-pointers this season after also going 3-for-4 in last Thursday's win over Iowa State. A junior from Arlington, Edwards has been a part of 66 wins through 95 games as a Red Raider that includes playing in all 38 games a freshman during the run to the 2019 NCAA Championship Final. Edwards scored a previous season-high 19 points in wins over Abilene Christian and Iowa State this season and has now scored 826 points in his career. He's shooting 50-for-116 (43.1 percent) on 3-pointers this season and has made 129 3-pointers in his career. Edwards leads Tech with 71 assists this season, including a career-high seven assists in the opener against Northwestern State. He's recorded 18 assists in the past six games and has recorded three or more assists in 14 games this season. Edwards, who has 26 steal this season and eight in the past five games, comes into the game against Texas with 208 assists in his career and is 74 points from 900 in his career.

Peavy has his best scoring performance in conference play after recording 12 points on a 6-for-8 shooting night against Iowa State last Thursday and then went for six points at Baylor. He also had four rebounds and led Tech with three assists in the win over the Cyclones in the home finale after he had matched a career-high with seven rebounds in the win over TCU where he also had seven points and two assists. Peavy is averaging 6.8 points and 4.2 rebounds per game during the past five games leading into the postseason. He had recorded the career-high seven rebounds at Kansas six games ago and then had a performance against the Longhorns where he produced five points, four assists and five rebounds. He has started 25 of 26 games to begin his collegiate career where he is averaging 5.8 points and 3.2 rebounds per game. A true freshman who was the Texas Class 6A Player of the Year and a Class 6A State Champion at Duncanville HS, Peavy scored a season-high 14 points in the season opener against Northwestern State and had a previous conference-high of 10 points at Kansas in the Allen Fieldhouse to go along with his seven rebounds. Peavy is shooting 46.6 percent from the field this season and has scored 151 points.

Tyreek Smith scored career-high nine points in the win over TCU last Tuesday in Lubbock where he was 4-for-4 from the field and also had six rebounds before having six rebounds and five points against ISU. He's coming off a game at Baylor where he had five points and three rebounds in six minutes. He had a career-high eight rebounds in the win over Oklahoma at home before matching a career-high with three blocks at KSU where he also had five points. A redshirt freshman, Smith is averaging 2.8 points and 2.6 rebounds through 26 games played. Smith scored a previous career-high seven points in the non-conference wins over Northwestern State and Troy. Against Troy, he had a career-high three blocks that was matched at KSU. He's second on the team with 21 blocks this season. Jamarius Burton is averaging 4.7 points and 1.3 assists per game. He's missed the past five games against OSU, UT, TCU, ISU and Baylor with a toe injury and is listed as day-to-day. A junior from Charlotte, North Carolina who transferred from Wichita State, Burton has scored 628 points and has 256 assists through 88 games of his collegiate career. He scored a season-high 10 points in the win over Grambling in non-conference play and had a Big 12-best of nine at West Virginia where he was 4-for-7 from the field with one 3-pointer. Burton had a season-high five assists in the win over Northwestern State and has an 11-assist performance against Oklahoma State on his resume from Wichita State. Burton has made four starts and appeared in 17 games as a reserve this season.

Clarence Nadolny scored a season-high seven points against Oklahoma where he was 2-for-2 from the field, including hitting one of his four 3-pointers for the season. A sophomore from France, he had a season-best three assists at West Virginia in the first matchup where he played 17 minutes before scoring his seven points in 15 minutes against OU. He had a previous season-high of six points in the win over Corpus Christi and has a career-high of nine points last season against Houston Baptist as a freshman. He is currently 14 points away from 100 in his career after scoring two against Baylor. Avery Benson is currently averaging 1.3 points. A redshirt junior, Benson is the only player on the current roster who was with the program when it advanced to the 2018 Elite 8. He is currently 6-for-9 on 3-pointers this season after hitting one at Baylor. Benson had a career-high 10 points and two blocked shots last season in the win over No. 1 Louisville at the 2019 Jimmy V Classic in New York. Chibuzo Agbo and Vladislav Goldin are true freshman along with Peavy and have had some strong moments in their first season at Tech. A San Diego native, Agbo is averaging 2.0 points per game after scoring a Big 12-best four points in the wins over TCU and Texas. He's scored in each of the past five games player. In the win over the Longhorns at home he made a layup and then two free throws in the final minute to help ice the game. He scored two points against ISU last Thursday night and his freshman resume also includes a season-high five points coming in the opener against Northwestern State. He had three points at West Virginia with a 3-pointer and also had two points at LSU. Agbo has hit six 3-pointers this season. Goldin is the tallest player on the roster at 7-foot-1 and is averaging 2.1 points and 1.1 rebounds per game through nine games played. A forward from Russia, Goldin scored a career-high six points against Grambling in non-conference play and also added four rebounds in the win. Goldin played one minute against UT after he had not played since the win at Iowa State on Jan. 9 in Ames. He entered the game on Tuesday against TCU upon fans chanting his name and scored two points and had one rebound in seven minutes of play.

SENIOR MOMENT: Tech head student manager Ty Larson played in the team's final home game against Iowa State. Larson, who has been with the program for two years after playing at Eastern Wyoming College, took a charge in the final minute and became a viral sensation. He is now back to his full-time student manager position and will graduate in May. He plans on becoming a college basketball coach.

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 13 times this season after having only nine in the win over TCU and seven at Baylor. The season has been highlighted by a two-turnover showing at West Virginia which matched the Big 12 single-game record. The Red Raiders are currently averaging only 10.9 turnovers per game which is the second in the Big 12. In Big 12 play, Tech also had only seven turnovers at Texas and Kansas, nine in the win over Kansas State and 10 at Iowa State. The team is averaging only 10.5 turnovers per game in Big 12 play. Tech had only one turnover at halftime in Ames against ISU to get out to a 24-point lead in the first matchup. In non-conference play, Tech had only four turnovers against Corpus Christi which was the low in the Beard era before the two in Morgantown. During his five seasons, Tech has committed 10 or less turnovers 64 times under Beard. 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 5.0 turnover margin advantage. The Red Raiders have drastically improved in the turnover category after committing 13.7 last season.

FORCING THE ISSUE: Texas Tech forced 30 turnovers against Grambling for the most since the 2009 season opener against South Dakota. Tech forced 15 turnovers against TCU and then 13 on ISU and has now had more turnovers than their opponent in only six of 25 games. The Red Raiders forced 16 against Baylor after 15 turnovers at Texas and Iowa State. Tech has recorded 13 steals in two games this season, against Grambling and Northwestern State before having eight at KSU. 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 had nine steals against the Cyclones with Edwards having three and McClung coming away with two. McCullar, who has 28 steals for the season, has 11 steals in the past five games.

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; TTU 7-UT 15; TTU 20-BU 16; TTU 2-WVU 12; TTU 13-LSU 12; TTU 10-OU 11; TTU 10-KSU 18; TTU 13-WVU 15; TTU 10-KU 6; TTU 12-OSU 17; TTU 11-UT 12; TTU 9-TCU 15; TTU 14-ISU 13; TTU 7-BU 12.

OUR LEADER: Beard is in his fifth season as the Texas Tech head coach where he has led the program to a 111-53 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 141-58 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).

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."