The Red Raiders (12-5, 4-4 Big 12) return to conference play after a 76-71 win at LSU in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge on Saturday in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, while the Sooners (11-4, 6-3 Big 12) are on a five-game winning streak following a 66-61 win over No. 9 Alabama at home. OU has run off wins over TCU, Kansas State, Kansas and Texas before knocking off Alabama. Tech earned a 69-67 win over the Sooners in the first matchup between the two teams back on Dec. 22 in Norman with Terrence Shannon, Jr. going off for 21 points on 8-for-12 shooting and Marcus Santos-Silva adding 18 points and seven rebounds. Mac McClung finished the game against OU with 16 points, including the final six points for the Red Raiders in the two-point road win that evened their Big 12 record at 1-1 going into the holiday break.
Chris Beard is in his fifth season as the program’s head coach and has led the Red Raiders to a 70-12 record in home games and is 6-3 against the Sooners. The Red Raiders have won five of the last six matchups against Oklahoma, but trail in the all-time series 40-28 coming into the second meeting of the season. Tech is 18-13 all-time at home in the series and has swept the season series against the Sooners twice (2010, 2019).
Tech comes into the matchup fourth in the nation with a 6.2 turnover advantage over its opponents this season and is 20th in the country by holding teams to 62.2 points per game. The Red Raiders have made 300 free throws as a team which is the third most in the nation and are 18th in the stat rankings by forcing 17.2 turnovers per game from their opponents. The Red Raiders are second in the Big 12 by limiting teams to only 40.7 percent shooting and are 10th in Kenpom.com’s adjusted defensive efficiency. McClung leads the Big 12 with 21.0 points per conference game and is averaging 23.2 in the past five games, including scoring a season-high 30 last Monday at West Virginia and then dropping 22 on LSU. He leads the Big 12 with 297 total points this season. Marcus Santos-Silva is currently third in the Big 12 with 3.06 offensive rebounds per game and Shannon is sixth in the league with 22 steals to go along with averaging 14.8 points per conference game.
Austin Reaves leads OU with 15.8 points and 5.1 rebounds per game, while De’Vion Harmon is averaging 13.1 points per game and Brady Manek is at 11.0. Harmon led the Sooners with 18 points and four assists against Alabama with Reaves missing the game. Umoja Gibson and Harmon both hit three 3-pointers for the Sooners in the win with the team going 8-for-21 from beyond the arc. Manek and Gibson both finished with 12 points in the win. The Sooners are averaging 76.9 points per game this season and are limiting teams to 67.3.
MEDIA: The Red Raiders will be featured on ESPN Big Monday for the second straight week with Bob Wischusen and Fran Fraschilla back on the television call, while Geoff Haxton and Chris Level have the radio broadcast which is on the Texas Tech Sports Network and locally on Double T 97.3.
UP NEXT: Texas Tech will return to the road this weekend with a road trip to Manhattan, Kansas to take on Kansas State. The Red Raiders earned an 82-71 win in the first matchup back on Jan. 5 in Lubbock. KSU plays at Kansas on Tuesday before hosting the game.
RED RAIDER REPORT: McClung buried two 3-pointers in the final minute of play at LSU to help lead the Red Raiders to the win where he finished with 22 points. McClung eclipsed the 1,000-point milestone in his career in the victory and now has 1,007 points combined with 297 as a Red Raider through 17 games to go along with his first two seasons at Georgetown. At LSU he finished the game shooting 7-for-15 from the field with three 3-pointers and is now averaging 23.2 points per game in the last five games. McClung had scored his season-high in points in each of the past three games, going for 30 at West Virginia after dropping 24 against Baylor and 22 at Texas. A junior from Gate City, Virginia, McClung leads the Big 12 with 21.0 points per conference game and is second overall at 17.5 points per game for the season. He has recorded eight games of 20 or more points, including five in conference play and made four 3-pointers in the games against Baylor and WVU. He scored his season-high 30 points at WVU by going 11-for-21 from the field (4-for-7 on 3-pointers) and also was 4-for-5 at the free-throw line. He tops the Big 12 with 75 made free throws where he is 75-for-92 (81.5 percent). Along with his scoring, McClung had three assists against the Mountaineers and is averaging 2.3 per game (39 total) through 17 games. He is shooting 36.0 percent on 3-pointers with 32 makes this season and 102 through 67 games in his career. McClung was named the Big 12 Player of the Week on Jan. 18 after hitting the game-winning shot against the Longhorns. After hitting three 3-pointers at LSU, he now has three or more 3s in five games this season.
Shannon is coming off his first career double-double where he scored a season-high 23 points and also had 10 rebounds against LSU. He scored the go-ahead basket to give Tech a 72-71 lead against the Tigers and then hit four straight free throws to ice the game. He has now scored 501 career points and has 208 rebounds through 45 games in his career. Shannon was named an Erving Award Finalist last Wednesday and comes into the matchup against OU averaging 13.6 points and 5.5 rebounds per game. A Chicago, Illinois native, Shannon had 15 points and eight rebounds at WVU last Monday to take his Big 12 averages to 14.8 points and 6.0 rebounds per game. He had previously scored a season-high 22 points in the home win over Kansas State where he was 5-for-9 from the field and 11-for-12 at the free-throw line. Shannon is playing a sixth-man role after starting the first 10 games and averages 30.4 minutes per game in Big 12 play which is the second most on the team. He has scored in double figures in 13 of 16 games played with a 21-point performance at Oklahoma in the first matchup between the two teams and 20 points against Kansas on his sophomore resume. He scored a career-high 24 points as a freshman last season at DePaul and also had an 11-rebound performance at Kansas during his first year with the Red Raiders. He had flirted with a double-double earlier in the year with a season-high nine rebounds in his 20-point game against the Jayhawks in the conference opener.
McCullar leads Tech with 8.0 rebounds per game in Big 12 play and is averaging 9.9 points and 7.1 rebounds through eight games played this season. A redshirt sophomore, McCullar missed the first nine games of the season with an injury suffered in preseason practice but has returned to prove that he is one of the most versatile players in the Big 12. He is coming off scoring 10 points and grabbing six rebounds at LSU following an eight-rebound performance at West Virginia where he also led the team in assists. He scored a career-high 16 points at Texas by going 6-for-7 from the field with two 3-pointers and has double-doubles with 15 points/11 rebounds at Iowa State and 10/10 against Baylor. A third-year player from San Antonio, McCullar redshirted his first season when the Red Raiders advanced to the Final Four and played in 29 games last year. His four assists at WVU on Monday were a career high and were followed by three in Baton Rouge. He matched Edwards for the team lead against LSU and now has been the team’s assist leader the past three games. McCullar has scored in double figures in five of eight games played this season and has six or more rebounds in six straight games.
Santos-Silva is the team’s only senior and comes into this weekend with 976 points, 729 rebound and 112 blocks through 114 games played. He has two double-doubles this season and 18 in his career. A grad transfer from VCU, Santos-Silva is averaging 8.7 points and 6.4 rebounds in his first season at Tech and leads the team with 1.2 blocks per game (20 total). He recorded his fourth double-digit rebounding performance at LSU with 12 rebounds to go along with six points and one block. In Big 12 play, he is coming off a game against West Virginia where he scored nine point after he had 11 rebounds and eight points against Baylor. He is averaging 9.3 points and 5.0 rebounds per Big 12 game that includes a season-high 14 points in the home win over Kansas State. A Taunton, Massachusetts native, he had a career-high four blocks against Abilene Christian and Oklahoma State this season. At VCU, he scored a career-high 26 points in games against Rhode Island and George Mason and had a career-best 22 rebounds in a monster double-double against Rhode Island. He is shooting 59.8 percent this season which is the highest in his four-year collegiate career.
Edwards comes into the game averaging 9.9 points per game after scoring eight points against LSU and West Virginia and leads the Red Raiders with 41 assists this season. A junior from Arlington, Edwards scored a season-high 19 points in games against Iowa State and Abilene Christian and had a career-high seven assists in the season opener against Northwestern State. He is tied for the team lead with McClung with both juniors having 29 made 3-pointers this season. He recorded the first double-double of his career with 13 points and 11 rebounds in non-conference play against Grambling on Dec. 6 at home and had a nine-rebound performance in the road win at Oklahoma. Edwards was 2-for-4 on 3-pointers against West Virginia and has made 108 in his career. A third-year player for the Red Raiders, Edwards appeared as a reserve in all 38 games as freshman during the Final Four run and started all 31 last season as a reserve. He has now scored 730 points, has 181 assists and 293 rebounds through 86 games of his career. Edwards and McClung were both named Big 12 Preseason Honorable Mention.
Peavy has started 16 of 17 games as a freshman and is averaging 5.6 points, 1.4 assists and 2.9 rebounds for the Red Raiders after going for six points and two rebounds at WVU. He was limited to two points and two rebounds at LSU. He also scored six points and had five rebounds against Baylor in Big 12 play before the SEC/Big 12 Challenge. Named the Class 6A Player of the Year and a state champion at Duncanville HS, Peavy has made an immediate impact for the Red Raiders including scoring 14 points against Northwestern State in the season opener. He has scored in double figures three times, including 12 points against Houston and A&M-Corpus Christi. Peavy is currently averaging 4.9 points per conference game and has a career-high six rebounds on his resume that came against Kansas. A junior transfer from Wichita State, Burton has started four games and played 12 as a reserve in his first season with the Red Raiders. He is coming off a game at LSU where he had three points and two rebounds after a performance at WVU where he had nine points and five rebounds. He is currently averaging 4.8 points and 2.1 rebounds for the season. Burton had a season-high 10 points in the non-conference win over Grambling and also had a nine-point performance at Iowa State in Big 12 action. Burton had 126 assists as a freshman and 102 as a sophomore for the Shockers and is currently averaging 1.4 assists this season. Through 84 games of his collegiate career, Burton has 611 points, 252 assists and 265 rebounds.
Benson missed the games at LSU and WVU due to an injury suffered in practice during the postponements and is listed as day-to-day. A junior from Arkansas, Benson is 4-for-6 on 3-pointers this season and is averaging 1.6 points in 12 games played this year. He is the only player on the roster who was with the program during the runs to the 2018 Elite, 2019 Big 12 Championship and 2019 Final Four. He scored a career-high 10 points last season against No. 1 Louisville at the Jimmy V Classic in Madison Square Garden. Nadolny is in his sophomore season and is averaging 1.7 points per game after scoring three at WVU. A guard from France, he has played in 12 games this season and 3 in his two seasons with the Red Raiders. He has a career-high nine points against Houston Baptist last season as a freshman and scored six against Corpus for a season-high earlier this year in the game that was played in Frisco. He had a career-high three assists on Monday against the Mountaineers.
Smith is playing in his first season after redshirting last season, while Chibuzo Agbo and Vladislav Goldin are true freshmen on the roster. A Baton Rouge native, Smith returns to his hometown this weekend averaging 2.5 points and 2.1 rebounds per game. He scored a season-high seven points in the non-conference wins over Northwestern State and Troy and has a Big 12 high of four points against Kansas and Oklahoma State. Smith is second on the team with 13 blocked shots, including a career-high three blocks against Troy. Agbo hit a 3-pointer at WVU and is now averaging 1.7 points per game this season, while Goldin has not played since the game at Iowa State. The tallest player on Tech’s roster at 7-foot-1, Goldin is averaging 2.8 points and 1.5 rebounds in six games played this season. Agbo played 7:40 at LSU and scored two points with a pair of free throws.
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 eight times this season after only having two at West Virginia. In the loss to Baylor, Tech committed a season-high 20 turnovers before responding by matching the Big 12 single-game record. Tech had 13 turnovers at LSU. The Red Raiders are currently averaging only 11.1 turnovers per game which is the second in the Big 12 and 25th nationally. In Big 12 play, Tech also had only seven turnovers against Texas and Kansas, nine in the win over Kansas State and 10 at Iowa State. Tech had only one turnover at halftime against the Cyclones to get out to a 24-point lead. In non-conference play, Tech had only four turnovers against Corpus Christi which was the low in the Beard era. During his five seasons, Tech has committed 10 or less turnovers 59 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 plus-6.2 turnover margin which is fourth nationally. OU leads the Big 12 with only 10.5 turnovers per game.
FORCING THE ISSUE: Texas Tech forced 30 turnovers against Grambling for the most since the 2009 season opener against South Dakota. At LSU, Tech had one more turnover than the Tigers and has now had more turnovers than their opponent in four of 17 games. The Red Raiders forced 16 against Baylor after 15 turnovers at Texas and Iowa State. LSU and WVU committed 12 turnovers each last week. Tech has recorded 13 steals in two games this season, against Grambling and Northwestern State. The team had seven steals against the Mountaineers but only four against the Tigers. 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.
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.
SHARING THE WEALTH: Texas Tech is averaging 12.8 assists per game after 14 on 34 makes at WVU. The team has seven games with 15 or more assists. Tech had a season-high 25 assists in the opener against Northwestern State. Edwards has the individual high this season with seven in that game against NSU. McCullar and Edwards led Tech with three each at LSU where the Red Raiders had 10 assists on 26 made baskets.
STIFLING STARTS: The Texas Tech defense has been strong throughout the first 17 games, but especially solid in the first half where it has outscored its first 17 opponents by a combined 607-481 margin. TTU and WVU were tied at 39 for the first tie at halftime this season for the Red Raiders and it trailed 33-32 at LSU. Tech had trailed by as many as 10 to the Mountaineers before squaring it going into the locker room. The Longhorns were an anomaly, outscoring the Red Raiders by a 48-38 margin before Tech made its second-half comeback for the win. Only seven of the first 17 opponents have scored over 30 points through the opening 20 minutes of games. ACU was limited to only 14 points in the opening 20 minutes and Sam Houston was at 15. The 14 points scored by ACU at the break was the lowest since Northwestern State was held to 10 points at halftime in 2018.
OUR LEADER: Beard is in his fifth season as the Texas Tech head coach where he has led the program to a 106-49 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 136-54 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). Beard is now 200-77 as an NCAA head coach.
TEXAS TECH COACHING WINS
1. Gerald Myers 325-262 (.554) 1971-1991
2. Polk Robison 255-197 (.564) 1942-46; 1947-1961
3. James Dickey 166-124 (.574) 1991-2001
4. Bob Knight 138-82 (.627) 2001-08
5. Berl Huffman 116-72 (.617) 1935-1942; 1946-1947
6. Chris Beard 106-49 (.686) 2016-present
7. Gene Gibson 100-92 (.521) 1961-1969
BEARD AT HOME (70-12, 29-11 Big 12)
2016-17: 16-3, 6-3 Big 12
2017-18: 17-1, 8-1 Big 12
2018-19: 17-1, 8-1 Big 12
2019-20: 13-4, 6-3 Big 12
2020-21: 7-3, 1-3 Big 12
THE STAFF: Beard is assisted this season by associate head coach Mark Adams, assistant coaches Ulric Maligi and Bob Donewald, Casey Perrin (Chief of Staff), Sean Sutton (Advisor/Player Development), John Reilly (Strength & Conditioning) and associate athletic trainer Mike Neal. Adams is entering his fifth season on Beard’s staff and also assisted him at Little Rock. A 1979 graduate of Texas Tech, Adams is a former head coach at Clarendon College, Wayland Baptist, West Texas A&M, Texas-Pan American and Howard College. He earned 2019 TABC Assistant Coach of the Year and is a member of multiple hall of fames, most recently being inducted into the NJCAA’s Men’s Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame Class for 2020. Donewald is in his second season on the staff, but his first as an assistant. He has extensive experience in professional basketball and worked last season as the program’s director of player development. Maligi is also in his second season on the staff and is widely respected as one of the top emerging assistants in the nation. He led the charge in the recruitment of this year’s signing class which was the highest ranked in program history. Reilly, a Killeen, Texas native who competed on the BYU Track & Field team, is also in his fifth season having led the strength and conditioning each year for Beard. Neal is in his second season, coming over from Little Rock where he played basketball and was the team’s athletic trainer during Beard’s year leading the program.
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.”