Game Preview // K-State Travels to 18/19 Texas Tech Tuesday

Game Preview // K-State Travels to 18/19 Texas Tech Tuesday

By FeliciaF.Rose 4 years ago
GAME 12
KANSAS STATE (5-6, 1-2 Big 12) at 18/19 TEXAS TECH (8-3, 1-2 Big 12)
Tuesday, January 5, 2021 >> 6:01 p.m. CT >> United Supermarkets Arena (15,098) >> Lubbock, Texas
 
TELEVISION
ESPNU / WatchESPN

  • Chuckie Kempf (play-by-play)

  • Robbie Hummel (analyst)

  • Anthony Giase (producer)

 
RADIO
K-State Sports Network

Flagships: // KMAN 1350 & WIBW 580
XM 380 // Internet 970
Online: TuneIn.com [free] / www.kstatesports.com/watch [free]

 
LIVE STATS
www.texastech.com
texastech.statbroadcast.com
 
TICKETS
United Supermarket Arena is open to 25 percent capacity (3,775). There are no single-game tickets available.
 
COACHES
Kansas State: Bruce Weber (Wis.-Milwaukee ’78)
Overall: 479-271/23rd season
At K-State: 166-116/9th season
vs. Texas Tech: 8-8 (2-6 on the road)
 
Texas Tech: Chris Beard (Texas ’95)
Overall: 273-97/12th season
At Texas Tech: 102-47/5th season
vs. Kansas State: 6-2 (4-0 at home)
 
PROJECTED STARTING LINEUP
Kansas State (5-6)
G: #24 Nijel Pack
G: #00 Mike McGuirl
G: #2 Selton Miguel
G: #3 DaJuan Gordon
F: #21 Davion Bradford
               
Texas Tech (8-3)
G: #0 Mac McClung
G: #1 Terrence Shannon, Jr.
G: #2 Jamarius Burton
G: #15 Kevin McCullar
F: #14 Marcus Santos-Silva
 
SERIES HISTORY
Overall: K-State leads 24-18
Current Streak: Texas Tech, 2
In Big 12 Play: Tied 17-17
In Lubbock: Texas Tech leads 13-7
At United Supermarkets Arena: Texas Tech leads 11-4
Last Meeting: L, 62-69 [2/19/20 in Lubbock, Texas]
Weber vs. Beard: 2-6 [0-4 on the road]
 
OPENING TIP

  • Kansas State (5-6, 1-2 Big 12) returns to the road on Tuesday night, as the Wildcats travel to Lubbock, Texas to take on No. 18/19 Texas Tech (8-3, 1-2 Big 12) at 6 p.m., CT at the United Supermarkets Arena. The Wildcats have lost 6 in a row to the Red Raiders in Lubbock with their last win coming in 2014. Tuesday’s game will air on ESPNU with Chuckie Kempf (play-by-play) and Robbie Hummel (analyst).

  • K-State will be playing in just its second road contest of the season after posting a 74-65 win at Iowa State in their first road trip of the season on Dec. 15. The win snapped a 9-game road losing streak in Big 12 action. The Wildcats’ only other road contest – a Dec. 11 matchup with Butler in the Big 12/Big East Battle – was cancelled due to COVID-19 protocols within the Bulldogs program.

  • This will be the Wildcats’ second matchup against a Top 25 opponent, including the first on the road. The team dropped a 100-69 decision to No. 2/2 Baylor in their first Big 12 home game on Dec. 19. K-State is 119-263 all-time vs. ranked opponents, which includes an 8-13 mark vs. the AP’s No. 18 ranked squad. Head coach Bruce Weber has a school-record 26 career wins against Top 25 foes.

  • K-State nearly rallied from an 18-point deficit, closing to within 61-58 with 38 seconds to play, before TCU converted from the free throw line to hang on for a 67-60 win on Saturday afternoon at Bramlage Coliseum. The Wildcats had a chance to complete the comeback, but a bad pass led to steal by junior R.J. Nembhard, who started a streak of 6 straight free throw makes to end the game for the Horned Frogs.

  • Four Wildcats scored in double figures for the second time this season in the loss to TCU, as sophomore DaJuan Gordon posted a career-high 18 points on 7-of-13 field goals to go with 7 rebounds, 3 assists and game-high 3 steals in just over 36 minutes. Freshman big man Davion Bradford nearly tallied his first double-double with 14 points on 6-of-10 shooting with 9 rebounds, while senior Mike McGuirl and freshman Nijel Pack added 13 and 12, respectively.

  • K-State has started 3 true freshmen (Bradford, Selton Miguel and Pack) in 6 consecutive games, which includes all 3 Big 12 games. The Wildcats are one of 5 teams (Kentucky, Duke, James Madison and North Carolina) to start at least 3 true freshmen in at least one game, while the 24 combined starts by true freshmen rank second only to Kentucky’s 27. The next closest schools are North Carolina (22), Auburn (17), Montana (17), Tennessee Tech (16) and Troy (15). The true freshmen have been pressed into early playing time, as 5 different players have combined to miss 31 games this season, including season-opening starters Kaosi Ezeagu and Montavious Murphy both missing 7 games each. Murphy returned to action vs. TCU on Saturday.

  • Since switching to the 4-guard lineup against Milwaukee on Dec. 11, K-State is averaging 68.2 points on 44.1 percent shooting (154-of-349), including 55.4 percent (108-of-195) from inside the 3-point line. Seven different Wildcats (D. Gordon, McGuirl, Pack, Bradford, Miguel, Antonio Gordon and Rudi Williams) are averaging better than 7 points in the 6-game span, including a team-best 10.3 points per game by Gordon, while McGuirl (10.2 ppg.) and Pack (10.2 ppg.) are averaging better than 10 points per game and Bradford (9.8 ppg.) and Miguel are averaging nearly double figures. In all, underclassmen have combined for 256 of the team’s 409 points on 45.4 percent (99-of-218) shooting in the last 6 games.

 
NOTES ON 18/19 TEXAS TECH

  • No. 18/19 Texas Tech (8-3, 1-2 Big 12) enters Tuesday’s game on the heels of an 82-77 overtime loss to Oklahoma State on Saturday, which snapped a 2-game winning streak. The Red Raiders will be seeking its first home Big 12 win of the season after opening with a 58-57 loss to Kansas on Dec. 17 prior to the setback to OSU, which are the only 2 losses at home this season.  The team does have an impressive 69-67 win at Oklahoma. Junior transfer Mac McClung led all scorers with 21 points on 7-of-15 field goals against the Cowboys, while junior Kyler Edwards had 18 points off the bench.

  • Texas Tech is averaging 73.5 points on 43.4 percent shooting, including 33.5 percent from 3-point range, to go with 33.5 rebounds, 14.1 assists, 7.2 steals and 4.5 blocks per game, while allowing a Big 12-best 56.3 points on 37.4 percent shooting, including 28.7 percent from 3-point range. The team is averaging 67.7 points in Big 12 play on 40.2 percent shooting, including 30.5 percent from 3-point range, while allowing 69.0 points on 42.1 percent shooting, including 38.5 percent from 3-point range.

  • The Red Raiders have done an impressive job of mixing transfers with players who have developed in the program, as they boast 3 transfers (Mac McClung, Jamarius Burton and Marcus Santos-Silva) with sophomores Kevin McCullar and Terrence Shannon, Jr. McClung is one of 4 players averaging in double figures, as he leads the way with 15.0 points per game on 39.2 percent shooting, including 30.8 percent from 3-point range, to go with 2.6 rebounds and 2.7 assists in 28.5 minutes per game. Shannon is averaging 13.0 points on 51.7 percent shooting wih 4.7 rebounds, while reserve Kylar Edwards and McCullar are each averaging 10.0 points per game. Edwards, who has started 8 games, also is averaging 5.5 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game. Santos-Silva paces the team in both rebounding (6.7 rpg.) and blocked shots (1.5 bpg.), while averaging 8.5 points per game.

  • Texas Tech is led by 2018-19 National Coach of the Year Chris Beard, who has posted a 102-47 (.685) record in his fifth season. He has a 273-97 (.738) overall record in his 12th season as a head coach, which includes head coaching stints at McMurry (2012-13), Angelo State (2013-15) and Little Rock (2015-16).

 
SERIES HISTORY

  • K-State and Texas Tech will meet for the 43rd time in their histories with the Wildcats holding a 24-18 advantage in the series, while the Red Raiders are 13-7 at home with 6 straight victories dating back to 2015. The teams are tied 17-all since the start of Big 12 play in 1997.

  •  Texas Tech has won 9 of the last 12 meetings, including a 6-2 mark under head coach Chris Beard. Last season, the Red Raiders won both meetings, including a 77-63 victory in Manhattan on Jan. 14 and a 69-62 win at home on Feb. 19. Tech has won the last 6 meetings at United Supermarkets Arena with the last K-State win coming on Feb. 25, 2014.

  • Head coach Bruce Weber is 8-8 all-time against Texas Tech, including a 2-6 mark on the road, while Weber is 2-6 against head coach Chris Beard.

  • Only four Wildcats on the current roster played in the matchup in Lubbock  last season with sophomore Montavious Murphy scoring 9 points in a start in the last meeting, while fellow sophomore Antonio Gordon posted 14 points on 6-of-7 field goals with 8 rebounds off the bench.

 
LAST TIME OUT: TCU 67, K-STATE 60

  • K-State nearly rallied from an 18-point deficit, closing to within 61-58 with 38 seconds to play, before TCU converted from the free throw line to hang on for a 67-60 win on Saturday afternoon in front on a limited capacity crowd of 798 fans at Bramlage Coliseum.

  • Down by as many as 18 points in the first half, the Wildcats had to an opportunity complete the comeback with 38 seconds to play, but a bad pass led to a steal by junior R.J. Nembhard, who started a stretch of 6 consecutive free throws made to end the game by the Horned Frogs.

  • Four Wildcats scored in double figures for the second time this season, as sophomore DaJuan Gordon posted a career-high 18 points on 7-of-13 field goals to go with 7 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals in just over 36 minutes. Freshman big man Davion Bradford nearly collected his first double-double with 14 points on 6-of-10 shooting with 9 rebounds, while senior Mike McGuirl and freshman Nijel Pack added 13 and 12, respectively.

  • The tone of the game was set in the first half, as the Horned Frogs couldn’t miss to open the game, hitting on their first 5 field goals and shooting 76.5 percent (13-of-17) in taking a 29-11 lead with 7:24 to play before halftime. The Wildcats were the complete opposite, making just 4 of their first 22 shots (18.1 percent), including a stretch of 12 consecutive misses.

  • A Gordon layup sparked an 8-0 run by K-State that closed it to 29-18 and forced a TCU timeout with 3:43 to play. The Wildcats finished off the half by scoring 8 of the last 12 points, including a 3-pointer by Gordon at the buzzer.

  • The momentum the Wildcats generated in the latter part of the first half carried over into the second half, as a 13-3 run helped them close to within 41-39 on a 3-pointer by McGuirl with 13:08 to play. However, a pair of free throws by Easley helped start a 9-1 run that pushed the lead back to 10 points.

  • After TCU extended the lead to 11 with just over 6 minutes to play, K-State made another push at grabbing the lead, using a 14-6 run — which included back-to-back 3-pointers from Gordon and McGuirl — to again get within one possession at 61-58 with 1:15 to play. However, Bradford couldn’t finish on a poor pass from McGuirl with 38 seconds left, and Nembhard stole the ball and was fouled, setting up the final sequence.

 
NON-CONFERENCE SUCCESS

  • K-State has a 115-12 (.906) record at home venues (includes home games played at Bramlage Coliseum, INTRUST Bank Arena in Wichita and the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City) in non-conference play dating back to the 2006-07 season, including a 106-10 (.914) mark at Bramlage Coliseum

  • Despite seeing their 33-game winning streak end at Bramlage Coliseum with a loss to Marquette on Dec. 7, 2019, the Wildcats have still won 102 of their last 112 non-conference home games.

  • K-State has posted a 151-46 (.767) record in non-conference play since the 2006-07 season. Prior to last season, the team had posted double-digit non-conference wins in 12 of the last 13 seasons.

  • Head coach Bruce Weber is 82-30 (.732) in non-conference play since he arrived at K-State, including a 63-10 (.863) mark at home.

  • K-State is 4-4 in non-conference play in 2020-21 with one scheduled game left on the slate at home against Texas A&M on Saturday, Jan. 30. The Wildcats have had a winning non-conference record every season since 1971-72.

 
UP NEXT: OKLAHOMA STATE (7-2, 1-2 Big 12)

  • K-State returns home to Bramlage Coliseum on Saturday, as the Wildcats play host to Oklahoma State (7-2, 1-2 Big 12), which plays host to No. 14/16 West Virginia on Monday night. The Cowboys won both meetings in 2019-20, including a 64-59 win in Manhattan on Feb. 11, 2020.

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