Fresh off a major road scare, No. 15 Texas Tech returns to its home court aiming for a strong start to a stretch that will provide multiple tests for an evolving team.
Texas Tech (12-4, 2-1 Big 12) arrives with some momentum, though shaky at best, after a two-point road victory at Colorado in a game that nearly slipped away after the Red Raiders built a 24-point second-half lead.
There is a constant need to quickly turn the page in the Big 12, but Texas Tech coach Grant McCasland wants to ensure his team recognizes the urgency of learning from that close call in a game he called a “catastrophic finish.”
“You’d always rather win and learn than lose and learn and we need to make sure we pay attention to what went wrong,” McCasland said. “Our struggle to defend in transition and our inability to guard without fouling really hurt our team. We’ve got to do a better job in those areas.”
This might be especially true against the desperate Utes (8-8, 0-3 Big 12). Utah has navigated a tough start to conference play without a win, but has made steady progress, culminating in a competitive loss at home on Saturday to then-No. 9 BYU.
Although the Utes have scuffled this season under first-year coach Alex Jensen, the thing that has McCasland’s full attention is their backcourt. Terrence Brown leads Utah with 21.6 points and 4.1 assists per game, while backcourt mate Don McHenry is providing 18.6 ppg and shoots 41.2% from 3-point territory (42 of 102). That tandem combined for 46 points and seven assists against the Cougars.
“Utah has got some really dynamic pieces at the guard spots,” McCasland said. “Any time you have guys averaging close to 20 and over 20 points a game at the guard spots, that just goes to show you they can take a game over. You can give them the ball and some space. We’ve got to be on edge against them.”
The Red Raiders respond with their own duo of Christian Anderson and Donovan Atwell and expect to have a significant advantage in the paint with JT Toppin. Anderson ranks seventh in the Big 12 with 19.3 ppg and leads the league with 115 assists (7.2 per game). Atwell is Texas Tech’s top outside threat with 53 made 3-pointers, while Anderson has drained 50 treys.
With Toppin established as one of the top post players in the country (20.6 points & a Big 12-best 11 rebounds a game), the Red Raiders come into Wednesday averaging 83.1 points a game. Utah is second-to-last in the league in scoring defense (80.7), last in scoring margin (-1.3; -12.0 in Big 12 games) and last in field-goal defense (46.7%).
The Utes have surrendered 90.3 points a game in league play, although those three games have been against three of the Big 12’s top eight scoring offenses (No. 1 Arizona, No. 8 Colorado, No. 4 BYU).
“It’s hard to give up 89 points and win, right? And if you look at all the good teams in college that win, (they) are the teams that defend and rebound,” Jensen said after the setback vs. BYU.
–Field Level Media
