PREVIEW: Red Raiders ready for 2022 NCAA Tournament

LUBBOCK, Texas – Texas Tech is the No. 3 seed in the NCAA West Region and is set for the program's fourth straight and 19th overall NCAA Tournament appearance where it will open against No. 14 seeded Montana State at 12:45 p.m. (CST) on Friday at the Viejas Arena in San Diego, California. On the other side of the West Region bracket in San Diego, Alabama will play either Rutgers or Notre Dame on Friday.

The Red Raiders (25-9, 12-6 Big 12) have matched the program record for their highest seeding and will look to continue program success in the tournament that had them reach the 2018 Elite 8 and the 2019 NCAA National Championship Final. Tech is currently at No. 12 in the national rankings after a season where it finished third overall in the Big 12 regular-season standings and then reached the Big 12 Championship Final for the second time in program history. Tech is coming off a 74-65 loss to No. 6 Kansas in the Big 12 Championship game last Saturday in Kansas City. The team has not lost back-to-back games all season.

Bryson Williams leads the Red Raiders with 13.7 points per game this season after scoring 17 against KU in the Big 12 championship final, while five players are averaging over eight points per game with Terrence Shannon, Jr. (10.4), Davion Warren (9.9), Kevin Obanor (9.9), Kevin McCullar (9.7) and Adonis Arms (8.4). Tech is at No. 1 in Kenpom.com defensive efficiency after a season where the Red Raiders are limiting opponents to only 60.3 points per game, are holding teams to 38.4 percent shooting and are forcing 16.1 turnovers per game. Warren leads the team with 50 steals, while Marcus Santos-Silva has 24 blocks for the Red Raiders who have limited 15 opponents under 60 points and five under 50 this season. Tech is an experienced team with four players having scored over 1,000 points in their careers with Williams leading the way with 2,094 followed by Warren (1,933), Arms (1,663) and Santos-Silva (1,234). Shannon has 884 points for the most in a Red Raider uniform on this year's team.

Montana State is making its first NCAA Tournament appearance in 26 years after winning the Big Sky Tournament with an 87-66 win over Northern Colorado last Saturday. TTU and MSU played for the first time in program history in 1939 with a neutral-court game in Oklahoma City. That season of 1939 was also the first for the NCAA Tournament.

The Red Raiders are 8-3 over the past three tournaments which is the second most wins nationally with Gonzaga and Michigan tied for the most with 10. Baylor, Houston and Duke each have seven and Virginia has six. After the 2020 tournament was canceled due to COVID, the program returned last season to advance to the 2021 NCAA Second Round after a win over Utah State before falling to Arkansas. Tech has now made the NCAA Tournament in 1954, 1956, 1961, 1962, 1973, 1976, 1985, 1986, 1993, 1996, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2021 and 2022.

QUICK FACTS
Matchup: No. 14 Montana State (27-7, 16-4) vs. No. 3 Texas Tech (25-9, 12-6)
Location: San Diego, California
Venue: Viejas Arena
Tip: 12:45 p.m. (CST), Friday
TV: TNT
TV Talent: Lisa Byington (play-by-play), Steve Smith and Avery Johnson (analyst), Lauren Shehadi (reporter)
Westwood One National Radio: Dave Pasch (play-by-play), PJ Carlesimo (analyst)
Radio (Texas Tech Sports Network): 97.3 Double T FM
Radio Talent: John Harris (play-by-play), Chris Level (analyst)
Series History: Texas Tech leads 3-1; Last Meeting: Tech won 86-67 (Jan. 3, 1996)

POLL/STAT REPORT
Texas Tech is heading into the NCAA Tournament as a No. 3 seed in the West Region but also at No. 12 in the final Associated Press Top 25 and No. 11 in the USA TODAY Coaches Poll that were released on Monday. The Red Raiders have now been ranked for 14 straight weeks after beginning the season as unranked team.

Along the polls, Texas Tech remains at No. 1 in the Kenpom.com adjusted defensive efficiency rating and is now at No. 9 in the NCAA NET Rankings and overall in the Kenpom.com. Statistically, the Red Raiders are sixth nationally by limiting opponents to only 38.4 percent shooting and 11th with teams being limited to an average of 60.3 points per game. TTU held Iowa State to 41 points in the Big 12 Championship quarterfinals to establish a new program record against a Big 12 opponent for fewest points allowed. Tech has been ranked as high as No. 9 this season and has now entered the top-10 of the rankings in four of the past five seasons and has accomplished it this year by working their way up from beginning as an unranked team. Tech was not ranked for the first five weeks of the season before entering at No. 25 on December 13 following a win over Tennessee in the Jimmy V Classic. TTU spent four straight weeks at No. 25 before moving to No. 19, No. 18, No. 13, No. 14 and No. 9 in the national poll. Tech was at No. 14 last week before reaching the Big 12 Championship final for the second time in program history with a quarterfinal win over Iowa State and semifinal victory over Oklahoma. Tech fell to No. 6 Kansas last Saturday in the championship game in Kansas City.

Tech's highest AP ranking in program history came at No. 6 in February of 2018 (16th Week Poll) and the program spent one week at No. 7 last season before dipping back. The 2018-19 team was No. 8 in the final week of the regular season and No. 7 throughout the postseason that led to the 2019 National Championship Final.

Making his Mark
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 25-9 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.

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 All-Tournament 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: Big 12 All-Tournament Team; 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)

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 (120), Warren (153), Williams (155), Santos-Silva (160) and Arms (137).

Williams leads Tech with 13.7 points per game this season (16.1 in Big 12 play) and has earned All-Big 12 First Team, Big 12 All-Newcomer Team, Big 12 All-Tournament Team and NABC All-District honors. He is coming off a team high 17 points in the Big 12 Championship final against Kansas where he was 8-for-17 from the field. A fifth-year senior who has started all 34 games in his first and final season at Tech, Williams has now scored 2,094 points in his career with 467 coming this year in a Red Raider uniform. He has now scored in double figures in 25 games this season and in 104 in his career. He scored a season-high 33 points in the double-overtime loss at Kansas on January 24 where he was 14-for-19 from the field and 4 of 4 on 3-pointers and also scored 21 points on 8 of 9 shooting at TCU on February 26. He also dropped 17 points in the most recent nationally ranked wins over Texas and Baylor. He leads Tech by shooting 40.5 percent on 3-pointers (34-for-84), 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 155 games in his career and has made 832 shots and come down with 890 career rebounds.

Obanor has scored in double figures in four straight games after leading Tech with 11 points in the semifinal win over OU and then also scoring 11 points against Kansas in the tournament final. He recorded three double-doubles in last year's NCAA Tournament while playing at Oral Roberts, including an opening-round game where he had 30 points and 11 rebounds against Ohio State. He also had 10 points and six rebounds in the quarterfinal win over Iowa State last 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 34 games this season and is averaging 9.9 points and leads the team with 169 rebounds (5.0 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 February 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 rebounds last season as a junior and recorded three double-doubles in the 2021 NCAA Tournament. Obanor has recorded 17 double-figure scoring performances this season with his 23 against the Bears and 20 against Lamar being his season-highs. He leads Tech with 45 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 his first double-double performance, Obanor was 4-for-7 on 3-pointers and is now 167-for-420 (39.8 percent) on 3-pointers through 120 career games. He comes into the NCAA Tournament with 1,641 points and 853 career rebounds.

Arms led Tech with eight rebounds and had four assists in against KU in the Big 12 Championship final after five assists and nine points in the semifinal win over OU. He also scored 10 points on 5 of 7 shooting against Iowa State in the quarterfinals for his 13th double-figure scoring performance of the season. A fifth-year senior in his first season at Tech, Arms earned All-Big 12 Honorable Mention selection. He is currently averaging 8.4 points, 4.2 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game. His 90 assists leads the team after adding having 11 in three games at the Big 12 tournament. Arms recorded his Big 12-highs in scoring with 15 points in the home win over Baylor and then also scoring 15 points at TCU. Arms has now scored 1,661 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 14 games and in 22 of 34 this season.

Shannon led the Red Raiders with 15 points and three steals in the quarterfinal win over Iowa State and then added 14 points in the championship final against Kansas where he was 3-for-4 on 3-pointers. He is now averaging 10.4 points per game this season and has scored 884 points through 80 games in his Red Raider career. A junior from Chicago, Shannon is in his third season playing at Tech after he explored the NBA Draft process last summer before electing to return to Lubbock. He has 11 games in double figure scoring through 23 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 294 shots including 68 3-pointers after going 6-for-9 from beyond the arc in the three Big 12 tournament games. 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.

McCullar returned to the court after missing the final two games of the regular season due to injury and played in all three at the Big 12 Championship. He is currently leading the Red Raiders with 3.2 assists per game and is also at 9.7 points and 4.9 rebounds per game. He provided 11 points, three assists, three rebounds and two steals in the quarterfinal win over ISU before scoring eight points and leading Tech with five assists in the Big 12 Championship final against KU. 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. McCullar has now scored 635 points and has 345 rebounds through 75 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 83 total assists, including having three or more assists in 17 of 26 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. McCullar is the only current player who was on the 2019 NCAA Final Four team where he was a redshirt freshman. He had enrolled at midterm after graduating high school early. He also has 145 assists, 105 steals and three double-doubles in his career going into the NCAA Tournament.

Santos-Silva earned All-Big 12 Honorable Mention selection and is coming off a game against Kansas in the Big 12 Championship final where he had eight points, six rebounds, two blocks and two steals. He is averaging 4.9 points and 4.3 rebounds per game and leads the Red Raiders with 24 blocked shots after having four in three games so far in the postseason. 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 1,234 points, 148 blocks and 951 rebounds through his team-high 160 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 376 offensive rebounds in his career. Santos-Silva started all 29 games for Tech last season and had played a reserve role in 33 of 34 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 70-for-119 (55.3 percent) from the field this season and 508-for-897 (56.6 percent) for his career. 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.

Warren matched Obanor for the team lead with 11 points and also led Tech with three steals in the win over OU in the semifinals of the Big 12 Championship 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. A super senior from Buffalo, New York, Warren leads Tech with 50 steals this season with six games of three steals or more. He swiped a season-high four steals against K-State in the home finale on February 28 where also scored a season-high 23 points in the win before turning 23-years-old the next day. 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 February 22 where he was 7-for-9 from the field. A starter in 33 games this season, Warren played as a reserve for the first time this season in the Big 12 Championship final last Saturday. He is averaging 9.9 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. 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 1,932 career points when combining junior college, Hampton and 337 points this season. He comes into his first NCAA Tournament third on Tech's roster with 56 assists, including a season-high five assists at Kansas and in the opener against North Florida. Warren is currently 122-for-263 from the field this season with 27 3-pointers.

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 in Austin and 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. Nadolny is averaging 3.7 points, 1.0 assists and 1.0 steals per game. Nadolny had made three straight starts to open Big 12 before playing the past 17 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 79 games – getting his first start of his career in the conference opener at Iowa State. 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 31 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 also led Tech with two blocks in the quarterfinal win over Iowa State. He now has 17 blocks this season and 60 in his career. A transfer from Louisiana, he currently has 219 assists after three against KU in the tournament finals, 748 points and 363 rebounds through 84 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 20 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 2.7 points and 1.9 rebounds in 29 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. He 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. Batcho 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 in the Jimmy V Classic win. 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 2.8 rebounds and 2.4 points per game. Agbo scored a career-high seven points against Omaha this season after he 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. 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.

Montana State Report
The Bobcats enter the NCAA Tournament as the Big Sky regular season and postseason champions. Montana State is on a six-game win streak and holds a 27-7 record including a 5-0 record at neutral sites. Senior guard Xavier Bishop leads the Bobcats in scoring putting up 13.8 points per game. A First Team All-Big Sky player, Bishop is also leading the team in assists and steals with 137 and 31, respectively. Junior forward Jubrile Belo is right behind Bishop in scoring putting up 13.2 pointers per game while also leading the team in rebounds grabbing 6.8 per game. Belo also leads the team in blocks by a large margin swatting away 58 shots this season to lead the conference with 1.8 blocks per game. The Big Sky MVP, Defensive Player of the Year and unanimous First Team All-Big Sky award winner, Belo helped the Bobcats to their first Big Sky Regular Season Championship in 20 years. The third-leading scorer for Montana State is senior guard Amin Adamu who is putting up 11.5 points per game while also grabbing 4.8 rebounds per game and is second on the team in assists with 55. A transfer from Casper College, Adamu was an All-Conference Honorable Mention. Wings Abdul Mohamed and Tyler Patterson round out the rest of the starters for the Bobcats and are putting up 7.9 and 7 points per game, respectively. Patterson leads the team in made three-points knocking down 59 and shooting it at a 37.3 percent clip from beyond the arc. Mohamed is second on the team in rebounds averaging 6.5 per game and third in assists dishing out 54. Sophomore guard RaeQuan Battle is the sixth man for the Bobcats and is averaging 8.7 points per game and shooting 46 percent from the field. A transfer from Washington, Battle was named Co-Big Sky Sixth Man of the Year. Great Osobor and Nick Gazelas also log double-digit minutes and put up 6 and 4.8 points per game, respectively. Montana State as a team led the Big Sky in field goal percentage shooting 47.5 percent, opponent field goal percentage holding to a 42.1 shooting percentage and blocks averaging 3.74 per game.

Head coach Danny Sprinkle is in his third year with Montana State and led the Bobcats to their third-straight winning season and first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1996. Texas Tech associate head coach, Barret Peery, is familiar with the Big Sky Conference after having spent the 2017-21 seasons as Portland State's head coach where he went 5-3 against the Bobcats. The Red Raiders are 3-1 against the Bobcats all-time with their last matchup coming in 1996, a game Tech won 86-67 in Lubbock.

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PREVIEW: Red Raiders ready for 2022 NCAA Tournament

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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