PREVIEW: No. 14 Tech seeks first Big 12 Championship title

KANSAS CITY – No. 14 Texas Tech and No. 6 Kansas will meet in the Phillips 66 Big 12 Men's Basketball Championship Final at 5 p.m. on Saturday at the T-Mobile Center. The third-seeded Red Raiders (25-8) are looking to earn their first Big 12 tournament championship in program history in only their second finals appearance, while the top-seeded Jayhawks (27-6) are seeking their 12th conference tournament title.

"We have a lot of respect for KU," Texas Tech coach Mark Adams said. "Those guys are going to be tough. We battled them. We beat them at our house and took them to an overtime game. They're one of the best coached teams in the country. We have so much respect for Bill Self, and they're playing the best they played all year, at peak performance."

Tech advanced to its first Big 12 Championship Final since 2005 after earning a 56-55 win over Oklahoma on Friday night in the seventh game of this year's tournament. The Red Raiders are now fifth nationally by limiting teams to only 38.2 percent shooting and are seventh with teams being limited to an average of 59.9 points through 33 games. Tech led 37-26 over OU at halftime before holding on at the end with Clarence Nadolny hitting two free throws in the final minute and then coming up with a final-possession defensive stop. Kevin Obanor and Davion Warren led the Red Raiders with 11 points each, while Bryson Williams scored nine points. Adonis Arms also added nine points and led Tech with five assists.

"It means everything," said Arms after the game about the opportunity to play for the Big 12 tournament title. "Coach Adams preaches to be great. To be great you've got to win. You've got to win ugly games. You've got to win great games. For us, just being a family and one more is just summer workouts that we been going to, and just working and just one more, one more, it just takes one more."

The win over the Sooners on Friday improved Tech's record to 2-4 all-time in semifinals. Tech advanced to the 2005 championship final with Ronald Ross going for 22 points and 10 rebounds, while Jarrius Jackson also added 22 points to set up a title game against Oklahoma State. Tech won five Southwest Conference tournament championships but is still looking for its first in the Big 12. The program won SWC tournament titles in 1996, 1993, 1986, 1985 and 1976.

TTU and KU split their regular season matchups this season with the Red Raiders earning a 75-67 win on January 8 in Lubbock with Williams going for 22 points and eight rebounds before the Jayhawks took a 94-91 double-overtime win on January 24 in Lawrence. Williams scored his season-high with 33 points on 14-for-19 shooting and going 4 of 4 on 3-pointers in the three-point loss at Allen Fieldhouse while Obanor provided 17 points and eight rebounds. Nadolny had a career-high 17 points in the home win where Tech forced KU to commit 17 turnover and owned a 44-18 scoring advantage in the paint.

Tech opened this year's Big 12 Tournament with a 72-41 quarterfinal win over Iowa State on Thursday before surviving the Sooner scare. Terrence Shannon, Jr. led Tech with 15 points in the win over Iowa State where nine players scored and 11 had a rebound. Kevin McCullar returned after missing two straight games to add 11 points and three assists, while Obanor and Arms both scored 10 points. The 41 points allowed were the fewest a Tech has ever held a Big 12 opponent to in program history.

QUICK FACTS
Matchup: No. 14 Texas Tech (25-8, 12-6) vs. No. 6 Kansas (27-6, 14-4)
Location: Kansas City, Missouri
Venue: T-Mobile Center
Tip: 5 p.m., Saturday
TV: ESPN
TV Talent: Jon Sciambi (play-by-play), Fran Fraschilla (analyst), Kris Budden (reporter)
Radio (Texas Tech Sports Network): 97.3 Double T FM
Radio Talent: Geoff Haxton (play-by-play), Chris Level (analyst)

2022 PHILLIPS 66 BIG 12 MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP (T-Mobile Center - Kansas City)
Wednesday, March 9
G1: No. 9 West Virginia 73, No. 8 K-State 67
Thursday, March 10
G2: No. 5 TCU 65, No. 4 Texas 60
G3: No. 1 Kansas 87, No. 9 West Virginia 63
G4: No. 7 Oklahoma 72, No. 2 Baylor 67
G5: No. 3 Texas Tech 72, No. 6 Iowa State 41
Friday, March 11
G6: Kansas 75, TCU 62
G7: Texas Tech 56, Oklahoma 55
Saturday, March 12
FINAL: Texas Tech vs. Kansas (5 p.m.)

2021-22 AWARDS / WATCH LISTS
Mark Adams: Associated Press Big 12 Coach of the Year; Werner Ladder Naismith Coach of the Year Late Season Watch List
Bryson Williams: All-Big 12 1st Team; Big 12 All-Newcomer Team; Associated Press All-Big 12 1st Team; Big 12 Newcomer of Week (1/31, 2/21)
Kevin McCullar: All-Big 12 Honorable Mention; Naismith Defensive Player of the Year Semifinalist; Academic All-Big 12 (1st Team)
Kevin Obanor: All-Big 12 Honorable Mention; Big 12 Newcomer of the Week (1/24)
Adonis Arms: All-Big 12 Honorable Mention
Terrence Shannon: Academic All-Big 12 (1st Team)
Marcus Santos-Silva: All-Big 12 Honorable Mention; Academic All-Big 12 (2nd Team)
Clarence Nadolny: Academic All-Big 12 (2nd Team)

Adams was named the Associated Press Big 12 Coach of the Year and has established the best record for a first-year Tech head coach with the 25-8 record. Bob Knight finished with a 23-9 in his first season (2001-02) for the previous best record by a coach leading the program in his first season. Adams and the Red Raiders have long since surpassed their win total from the past two seasons after going 18-11 (2020-21) and 18-13 (2019-20). The program record for wins came in the historic 2018-19 season where the team went 31-7 and advanced to the NCAA Championship Final. The win over Baylor at home on February 16 gave the program its 16th season with 20 or more wins.

Along with the polls, Tech is at No. 8 nationally on Kenpom.com and remains the top team in the defensive efficiency rating. TTU to No. 9 in the NCAA NET Rating from No. 12 after its win over Iowa State. The Red Raiders were coming off a 52-51 loss at Oklahoma State in their regular season finale despite holding the Cowboys to 32.8 percent shooting from the field and 5-for-23 on 3-pointers. The team has still not lost back-to-back games all season. Tech forced OU into 18 turnovers on Friday night in the semifinals and is now 17th in the nation by forcing 16.2 turnovers per game from its opponents. Offensively, Tech is now third in the Big 12 and at 38th nationally by shooting 47.1 percent from the field.

RED RAIDER ROSTER REPORT
The Tech roster of 14 is made up of five returners, six NCAA Division I transfers, one junior college transfer, a walk-on who joined at midterm and one high school signee. An experienced team, the Red Raiders have four super seniors in Davion Warren, Bryson Williams, Marcus Santos-Silva and Adonis Arms and five players who are currently in graduate school in Kevin Obanor, Warren, Williams, Santos-Silva and Arms. The program has five players who have played over 100 games in their career in Obanor (119), Warren (152), Williams (154), Santos-Silva (159) and Arms (136).

Williams leads Tech with 13.6 points per game this season (16.1 in Big 12 play) and was named to the All-Big 12 First Team and Big 12 All-Newcomer Team. He is coming off going for nine points in the win over OU. A fifth-year senior who has started all 33 games in his first and final season at Tech, Williams has now scored 2,077 points in his career with 450 coming this year in a Red Raider uniform. He scored a season-high 33 points in the double-overtime loss at Kansas where he was 14-for-19 from the field and 4 of 4 on 3-pointers and dropped 17 points in the most recent wins over Texas and Baylor. He leads Tech by shooting 41.8 percent on 3-pointers (33-for-79), including going 22-for-52 (42.3 percent) in Big 12 games. Williams began his career with two seasons at Fresno State in his hometown before playing the past two at UTEP. He has played in 154 games in his career and has made 824 shots and come down with 886 career rebounds.

Obanor has scored in double figures in three straight games after leading Tech with 11 points in the semifinal win over OU where he was 3-for-6 on 3-pointers. He also had 10 points and six rebounds in the quarterfinal win over Iowa State on Thursday after a 16/10 double-double at OSU in the regular-season finale. The double-double in Stillwater was his second double-double of the season and 32nd of his career. He has started all 33 games this season and is averaging 9.8 points and leads the team with 163 rebounds (4.9 per). His six rebounds against the Cyclones led the team which was the eighth time this season he's been the team leader in rebounds in a game. Obanor also led Tech with 23 points and 13 rebounds in the home win over Baylor to record his first double-double of the season on Feb. 16. A senior from Houston, Obanor is in his first season at Tech after playing three years at Oral Roberts where he was a two-time All-Summit League selection and was named to the NABC All-District team. He averaged 18.7 points and 9.6 points last season as a junior and recorded three double-doubles in the 2021 NCAA Tournament. Obanor has recorded 16 double-figure scoring performances this season with his 23 against the Bears and 20 against Lamar being his season-highs. He leads Tech with 44 made 3-pointers this season after also going 3-for-5 at Oklahoma State and now has eight games with three or more and a season-best five 3-pointers in the home win over Texas. Against BU in the double-double, Obanor was 4-for-7 on 3-pointers and is now 166-for-419 (39.6 percent) on 3-pointers through 119 career games. He comes into the championship final with 1,630 points and 847 career rebounds.

Warren matched Obanor for the team lead with 11 points and also led Tech with three steals in the win over OU on Friday after going 5-for-9 from the field with one 3-pointer. He also provided nine points, five rebounds, three assists and three steals in the win over Iowa State in the quarterfinals. Warren now leads Tech with 49 steals this season with six games of three steals or more, including a season-high four against K-State. He scored a season-high 23 points in the win over K-State in the home finale last Monday and then turned 23-years-old the next day. Warren provided 15 points and five assists in the double-overtime game at Kansas in the last matchup between the two teams this season. His 23 points against the Wildcats came with him going 9-for-11 from the field with two 3-pointers. He also led Tech in scoring after going for 16 points in the win over Oklahoma on Feb. 22 where he was 7-for-9 from the field. A starter in all 33 games this season, Warren is averaging 10.1 points per game has scored in double figures in 18 games. He scored a previous season-high 19 points in the second game of the season against Grambling and finished Big 12 play averaging 9.6 points per game. A fifth-year season from Buffalo, Warren is in his first and final year at Tech after playing two seasons at Olney Central College and the past two at Hampton. He was the nation's 13th best scorer last season after averaging 21.2 points per game at Hampton. Warren is currently at 1,929 career points when combining junior college, Hampton and 334 points this season. He comes into the finals of the Big 12 tournament third on Tech's roster with 55 assists, including a season-high five assists at Kansas and in the opener against North Florida. Warren is currently 121-for-256 from the field this season with 27 3-pointers.

Arms led Tech with five assists and also scored nine points in the win over OU on Friday night after he scored 10 points on 5 of 7 shooting against Iowa State in the quarterfinals for his 13th double-figure scoring performance of the season. He earned All-Big 12 Honorable Mention selection in his first and final season with the Red Raiders where he is averaging 8.5 points, 4.1 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game. His 86 assists leads the team after adding seven through two games in Kansas City so far. Arms matched his Big 12-high by scoring 15 points at TCU. A fifth-year senior in his first and final season at Tech, Arms also scored 15 points and had seven rebounds in the home win over Baylor three weeks ago, has now scored 1,659 points in a career that includes two seasons at Mesa Community College (Arizona), one at Northwest Nazarene (Idaho) and last season at Winthrop. Arms is a Milwaukee native who moved to Arizona as a 12-year-old and has made his way up from junior college, NCAA DII to the Big 12. He had a season-high 16 points in the win over Mississippi State by going 3-for-5 on 3-pointers in the Big 12/SEC Challenge and has 10 games with three or more assists – including a season-high seven assists against MSU in that same 16-point performance. Arms has started the last 13 games and in 21 of 33 this season. Arms helped lead Winthrop to the Big South Conference Tournament title last season.

McCullar returned to the court after missing the final two games of the regular season due to injury to provide 11 points, three assists, three rebounds and two steals in the win over ISU. He had five rebounds and four points against OU. An All-Big 12 Honorable Mention selection, he has now scored in double figures in 14 games this season and in 32 in his career. He set a new Tech record last season with six steals in the Big 12 Championship quarterfinal loss to Texas where he also went for 11 points and four rebounds. He led Tech with 12 points in the loss at Oklahoma on Feb. 9 in a game where he was 4-for-11 from the field but was held scoreless at home against OU in 14 minutes of play. McCullar has now scored 627 points and has 342 rebounds through 74 games in his career. A junior from San Antonio who was a 2021 All-Big 12 Honorable Mention selection and is a Naismith Defensive Player of the Year Semifinalist (1 of 10), he's led Tech in scoring six times this season and 11 times in his career. Against the Longhorns in Lubbock, McCullar had a career-high 12 made free throws in a 12 of 15 display from the stripe. He is second on the Red Raiders with 78 assists, including having three or more assists in 16 of 25 games played this season. McCullar scored a career-high 24 points in the non-conference portion of the season against Grambling and also went for 21 points against Arkansas State. He is currently averaging 9.8 points, 5.0 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 1.4 steals per game in his third season playing for the program. McCullar is the only current player who was on the 2019 NCAA Final Four team where he was a redshirt freshman who had enrolled at midterm after graduating high school early. Along with his 627 points, McCullar has 337 rebounds, 140 assists, 104 steals and three double-doubles through 74 games played.

Shannon led the Red Raiders with 15 points and three steals in the quarterfinal win over Iowa State on Thursday before being limited to four points in the win over OU. He is now averaging 10.3 points per game. He missed the home win over KU due to injury and had five in Lawrence. A junior from Chicago, Shannon is in his third season playing at Tech and has scored 870 points through 79 games in his career. Shannon explored the NBA Draft process last summer before electing to return to Lubbock for his junior season. He has 10 games in double figure scoring through 22 games played this season, including a season-high 23 points in the home win over West Virginia where he hit three 3-pointers and was 6-for-7 at the free-throw line. Shannon scored 20 points in the home win over TCU in the first matchup between the two teams this season by going 7-for-9 from the field with two 3-pointers. For his career, Shannon has made 289 shots including 65 3-pointers after going 2-for-3 from beyond the arc against Iowa State in the quarterfinals and 1-for-2 against OU in the semis. He was named to the All-Big 12 Third Team last season as a sophomore and was an All-Big 12 Preseason selection. Shannon has one double-double this season with 18 points and 11 rebounds in the win over Tennessee in the Jimmy V Classic after recording his first double-double with 23 points and 10 rebounds last season at LSU in the Big 12/SEC Challenge. Shannon was named to the Academic All-Big 12 First Team. After his 15 against Iowa State, he has now led Tech in scoring six times this season and 15 times in his career.

Santos-Silva earned All-Big 12 Honorable Mention selection and is coming off a game against OU where he had six points and six rebounds. This season, he averaging 4.8 points and 4.2 rebounds per game and leads the Red Raiders with 22 blocked shots after having one in each tournament game in Kansas City so far. He recorded his first double-double of the season and 13th of his career by going for 10 points and 10 rebounds in the first win over Oklahoma State on Jan. 13 in Lubbock. A super senior from Taunton, Massachusetts who played three seasons at VCU, he has produced 1,226 points, 146 blocks and 945 rebounds through his team-high 159 games in his collegiate career. Santos-Silva had a season-high of 12 rebounds coming in the win over Lamar and 13 points in the opener against North Florida. Santos-Silva has 27 games in his career with double-digit rebounds after his 10 against OSU and has 11 games with four or more rebounds this season. He currently has 373 offensive rebounds in his career. Santos-Silva started all 29 games for Tech last season and had played a reserve role in 32 of 33 this season with a start coming on senior night against K-State. He has 13 double-doubles in his career, including going for 26 points and 22 rebounds in a win over Rhode Island while playing at VCU. He is currently 66-for-114 (57.9 percent) from the field this season and 504-for-892 (56.5 percent). Santos-Silva, who has a bachelor's degree in Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness from VCU, was named to the 2022 Academic All-Big 12 Second Team as a graduate student at Tech. He was also an Atlantic 10 All-Academic selection before transferring.

Tech's bench is strong with talent in Mylik Wilson, Daniel Batcho, Clarence Nadolny, Chibuzo Agbo and KJ Allen who are poised to make impacts whenever they get on the court. Nadolny scored 14 points off the bench in the win at Texas in 20 minutes of play two weeks ago and is coming off a game against ISU where he had four points and four rebounds.

Nadolny is averaging 3.8 points, 1.0 assists and 1.0 steals per game. Nadolny had made three straight starts to open Big 12 before playing the past 16 back as a reserve. He finished Big 12 play with 4.6 points and was second on the team with 20 steals in conference play. Nadolny scored in double figures for the second time in his career against Baylor in Waco where he went for 11 points on 5-for-6 shooting. A junior from France, Nadolny is in his third season at Tech and has played in 77 games – getting his first start of his career in the conference opener at Iowa State. He scored a career-high 17 points in the win over No. 6 Kansas in Lawrence by going 6 of 13 from the field in 34 minutes of play. He had a career-high four steals in the loss at Iowa State where he also had nine points. Nadolny missed the first three games of the season due to off-season hip surgery but has played in all 29 since.

Wilson matched a season-high with three blocked shots against K-State in the home finale, including rejecting a 3-point attempt by Nijel Pack with 13 seconds remaining to try and tie the game. He led Tech with two blocks in the quarterfinal win over Iowa State and had one against OU. He now has 17 blocks this season and 60 in his career. A transfer from Louisiana, he currently has 216 assists, 748 points and 362 rebounds through 83 games played in his collegiate career. He scored a season-high 12 points against Mississippi State where he was 6 of 6 from the free-throw line. Wilson, who had a season-high four steals against UT in Lubbock and had five rebounds against the Longhorns in Austin, missed five games after minor knee surgery but has now played 19 in a row – returning to lead Tech with five assists in the win over Kansas on January 8 in his first game back. He is at 2.8 points and 1.9 rebounds in 28 games played. Wilson started five of the first six games of the season and had a season-high seven assists in the opener against North Florida. Wilson scored a career-high 30 points two seasons ago while at Louisiana in a game at Appalachian State on January 6, 2020.

Batcho is a freshman from Paris France who transferred from Arizona where he redshirted last season before deciding to transfer while Agbo is a sophomore who has played in 44 games as a Red Raider. He recorded a career-high four blocks at WVU where he also had six points and three rebounds in 13 minutes of play and secured a career-high 11 rebounds in the win over Tennessee where he also scored four points and had two blocked shots. Batcho had 10 rebounds and scored six points in the win over Omaha after producing eight rebounds and eight points against Incarnate Word in his breakout game at Tech. The tallest Red Raider at 6-foot-11, Batcho is averaging 3.0 rebounds and 2.6 points per game. Agbo scored a career-high seven points against Omaha this season and had six points in the 2021 NCAA Tournament against Arkansas where he hit two second-half 3-pointers in the second-round matchup. Agbo scored two points and had two rebounds at OSU to close out the regular season. Allen is in his first season at Tech after transferring from East Los Angeles College where he averaged 18.5 points and 9.3 rebounds, had 11 double-doubles and starred in the Netflix series Last Chance U: Basketball during his freshman season of 2019-20. Allen recorded career-high eight rebounds and matched a season-best with six points against K-State in the home finale before only playing 1:17 at OSU. Three of his eight rebounds against KSU were on the offensive end of the court to give him 12 offensive rebounds this season. He is averaging 2.1 points and 1.9 rebounds per game this season in 18 games played.

A true freshman from Lubbock, Ethan Duncan is redshirting this season after suffering an off-season shoulder injury that required surgery. Austin Timperman made his debut against EWU after becoming eligible at midterm. A walk-on from The Woodlands, Timperman transferred to Tech as a student last year after being in UTSA's team during the 2019-20 season where he played in six games. Sardaar Calhoun entered the transfer portal on Jan. 11 and is no longer with the team. At midyear, Tech added Jaylon Tyson to the roster after he decided to transfer from the University of Texas. Tyson will be able to practice with the team, but is not eligible to play until the 2022-23 season.

DOMINATING THE PAINT
Texas Tech has outscored 31 of 33 opponents inside the paint this season and own a combined 1,090-562 scoring advantage. OU had a 26-22 scoring advantage on Friday in the semifinals to become only the second opponent to top Tech in that category. Oklahoma State also outscored Tech by a 26-22 margin in the paint to break up a 30-game streak in the regular season finale before Tech dominated Iowa State by a 42-14 margin in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 Championship. Game-by-game points from the paint are listed below.

TTU 54 - UNF 20; TTU 30 - GRM 16; TTU 38 – PVAMU 20; TTU 40 – UIW 24; TTU 54 – UNO 10; TTU 26 – LMR 20; TTU 30 – PC 22; TTU 28 – TENN 26; TTU 40 – ARK ST. 12; TTU 26 – GONZ 16; TTU 40 – EWU 4; TTU 36 – ALB ST. 8; TTU 28 – ISU 6; TTU 44 – KU 18; TTU 36 – BU 22; TTU 30 – OSU 20; TTU 30 – ISU 26; TTU 30 – WVU 16; TTU 46 – KU 40; TTU 44 – MISS ST. 16; TTU 30 – UT 24; TTU 34 – WVU 10; TTU 30 – OU 18; TTU 38 – TCU 20; TTU 28 – BU 22; TTU 26 – UT 10; TTU 34 – OU 16; TTU 40 - TCU 30; TTU 36 – KSU 10; TTU 22 – OSU 26; TTU 42 - ISU 14; OU 26 - TTU 22.

AN ALL-TIME LOW
The 41 points Tech limited Iowa State to in the quarterfinals are the fewest points a Big 12 opponent has ever been held to in Red Raider history. TTU had limited Oklahoma to only 42 points in the 66-42 win on Feb. 22 by holding the Sooners to only 37.8 percent and only one offensive rebound which matched the Tech record in Big 12 play. The other low came by holding TCU to 42 points in an 88-42 win on Feb. 10, 2020 in Lubbock.

TECH VS. RANKED OPPONENTS
Tech is now 7-3 against ranked opponents and 3-2 against top-10 teams this season after knocking off No. 20 Texas, No. 7 Baylor, No. 23 Texas, No. 15 Iowa State, No. 1 Baylor, No. 6 Kansas in conference play and a 57-52 overtime win over then-No. 13 Tennessee at the Jimmy V Classic. The losses came at No. 11 Iowa State to open Big 12 play, a 94-91 double-overtime loss at No. 5 Kansas on Jan. 24 and a 69-55 loss to No. 5 Gonzaga in the Jerry Colangelo Classic. As a program, Tech is 68-217 all-time against ranked opponents. The Red Raiders were 3-8 in the 2020-21 season against ranked teams with two wins over Texas (No. 4 and No. 14) and a home win over Oklahoma which was at No. 9.

PROGRAM CONSISTENCY
Texas Tech has advanced to three straight NCAA Tournaments for first time in program history. The Red Raiders are 8-3 with trips to the 2018 Elite 8, 2019 Final and to the 2021 Second Round after a win over Utah State to open last year's tournament in Bloomington, Indiana before falling to Arkansas. TTU has the third most NCAA Tournament wins over the past three tournaments with Gonzaga and Michigan tied for the most with 10. Baylor, Houston and Duke each have seven and Virginia has six.

TECH VS. RANKED OPPONENTS
Tech is now 7-3 against ranked opponents and 3-2 against top-10 teams this season after knocking off No. 20 Texas, No. 7 Baylor, No. 23 Texas, No. 15 Iowa State, No. 1 Baylor, No. 6 Kansas in conference play and a 57-52 overtime win over then-No. 13 Tennessee at the Jimmy V Classic. The losses came at No. 11 Iowa State to open Big 12 play, a 94-91 double-overtime loss at No. 5 Kansas on Jan. 24 and a 69-55 loss to No. 5 Gonzaga in the Jerry Colangelo Classic. As a program, Tech is 68-217 all-time against ranked opponents. The Red Raiders were 3-8 in the 2020-21 season against ranked teams with two wins over Texas (No. 4 and No. 14) and a home win over Oklahoma which was at No. 9.

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Keep updated with the team throughout the season and in games at @TexasTechMBB

PREVIEW: No. 14 Tech seeks first Big 12 Championship title

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Players Mentioned

Chibuzo Agbo

KJ Allen

Adonis Arms

Daniel Batcho

Ethan Duncan

Kevin McCullar

Clarence Nadolny

Kevin Obanor

Marcus Santos-Silva

Austin Timperman

Davion Warren

Bryson Williams

Mylik Wilson