BEVO BEAT Men's Basketball
Men’s Preview: Texas at Texas Tech
Posted January 1st, 2016
Time: 1 p.m. Saturday
Where: United Supermarkets Arena (capacity 15,000)
TV/Radio: ESPNU/104.9 The Horn
Series history: Texas leads the all-time series, 82-54. The Longhorns won the last meeting, 65-53, at the Big 12 tournament in Kansas City, Mo.
| TEXAS (8-4 overall) | |||||||
| No. | Pos. | Player | Class | Ht. | Wt. | PPG | RPG |
| 1 | G | Isaiah Taylor | Jr. | 6-3 | 185 | 15.1 | 4.8* |
| 2 | G | Demarcus Holland | Sr. | 6-3 | 190 | 4.1 | 2.2 |
| 3 | G | Javan Felix | Sr. | 5-11 | 205 | 10.1 | 1.8* |
| 21 | F | Connor Lammert | Sr. | 6-10 | 235 | 6.0 | 5.3 |
| 44 | C | Prince Ibeh | Sr. | 6-11 | 265 | 1.4 | 3.1 |
| Coach: Shaka Smart (8-4, 1st year at Texas; 171-60, 7th year overall) | |||||||
| *-indicates assists per game | |||||||
About the Longhorns: Most Big 12 games are tight affairs, which gives good free throw shooters a real advantage. Texas goes into league play with the worst free-throw shooting percentage (.617) in the Big 12. … Whether he starts or comes off the bench, C Prince Ibeh must play under control and not get into foul trouble. Playing behind the now-injured Cam Ridley, Ibeh averaged only 10.3 minutes per game. Shaq Cleare played only 9.3 minutes per game. Those totals will grow exponentially over the next two months. … F Connor Lammert was 0 for 4 from 3-point range against Connecticut. Lammert needs a few shots to fall to boost his confidence going into this critical stretch.
| TEXAS TECH (13-8 overall, 3-6 Big 12) | |||||||
| No. | Pos. | Player | Class | Ht. | Wt. | PPG | RPG |
| 12 | G | Keenan Evans | Soph. | 6-3 | 180 | 7.3 | 2.6* |
| 20 | G | Toddrick Gotcher | Sr. | 6-4 | 205 | 11.0 | 2.3* |
| 5 | G | Justin Gray | Soph. | 6-6 | 210 | 8.6 | 3.7 |
| 11 | F | Zach Smith | Soph. | 6-8 | 215 | 9.9 | 6.8 |
| 34 | C | Matthew Temple | Jr. | 6-10 | 235 | 3.1 | 1.9 |
| Coach: Tubby Smith (40-45, 4th year at Tech; 551-271, 25th year overall) | |||||||
| *-indicates assists per game | |||||||
About the Red Raiders: Coach Tubby Smith’s club won all six games in December by double figures. The most recent win came Tuesday against Richmond, a 15-point win that pushed the Red Raiders’ winning streak to nine games. Devaugntah Williams had a game-high 17 points and a career-high eight rebounds. … Tech’s scoring and defensive totals hover in the middle of the Big 12 totals. But one thing this team does well is play defense. Opponents are shooting 38.5 percent, the second-lowest total in the league. … With Cam Ridley out, Tech’s Zach Smith needs to gobble up rebounds. So far, the Raiders have a plus-4.7 rebounding margin.
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