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Texas Tech basketball faces top-10 national scorer in Martaveous McKnight

By Matthew Conner

MIAMI, FL - DECEMBER 01: The Texas Tech Red Raiders bench reacts after a dunk against the Memphis Tigers during the HoopHall Miami Invitational at American Airlines Arena on December 1, 2018 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
MIAMI, FL - DECEMBER 01: The Texas Tech Red Raiders bench reacts after a dunk against the Memphis Tigers during the HoopHall Miami Invitational at American Airlines Arena on December 1, 2018 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images) /
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Tonight, the Texas Tech basketball team faces Arkansas-Pine Bluff, which features Martaveous McKnight who is top-10 nationally in scoring at 25.0 points per game.

The appearance of Arkansas-Pine Bluff on the schedule does not move the needle for most Texas Tech basketball fans.  However, tonight’s home tilt with the Golden Lions will be worth watching as one of the nation’s most explosive scorers comes to Lubbock.

The Golden Lions’ 6-foot-4 senior guard Matraveous McKnight is one of the most prolific scorers in the NCAA.  At 25.0 points per game, he ranks 9th in the country and will present a tremendous challenge for a Red Raider defense that is third in the nation holding opponents to just 53.3 points per game.

Bryan Mauro at Busting Brackets has an excellent in-depth profile of McKnight who may be the best player in the nation that most fans have never heard of.   This season, he has twice topped the 40-point mark while going for at least 20 points in three other games for the 2-5 Golden Lions.

McKnight had a season-high 41 against Colorado State on November 10th and went off for 40 against Cal Baptist in a triple-OT win on Black Friday.  But in his most recent outing, he was held to just seven points on 2-11 shooting against Cincinnati.

Thus far, he is shooting over 41% from the floor and 31.9% from three-point range.  He is also his team’s leading rebounder at 4.7 per game and assist man with 3.1 per game, both likely due to the fact that he rarely comes off the floor.  He averages over 38 minutes per game, eight minutes more than Jarrett Culver who leads Texas Tech in playing time.

Aside from McKnight, the rest of the APB lineup is rather limited.  The only other double-digit scorers are 6-foot-5 senior Charles Jackson (10.6) and 6-foot-5 sophomore Shaun Doss (10.0).

And despite the fact that the Golden Lions have a player averaging a quarter of a hundred points, they managed to score just 67.6 per game.  Meanwhile, they have been atrocious on defense allowing 88 points per game.

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ESPN.com’s Matchup Predictor gives the Red Raiders a 98.7% chance of winning this game.  But it will be worth watching to see how Chris Beard’s team looks to handle a true superstar scorer.

Expect to see Jarrett Culver and Brandone Francis spend most of the night matched up with McKnight.  When he and Culver go head-to-head, it will be a showdown of elite scorers (Culver averages 19.0 p.p.g.) but it will be interesting to see which player is the better defender.  (Smart money is on Culver).

Of course, team defense will be emphasized tonight, as always.  Tech will likely pack the lane and tempt other Golden Lions to shoot from deep.  As a team, they shoot only 37.8% overall and 26.1% from three-point range.

And when McKnight does drive to the basket, he will find the nation’s fifth-leading shot blocker, Tariq Owens waiting for him.  Owens is averaging 3.29 blocks per game and is coming off a program record eight in Saturday’s win over Memphis.

Thus far, Texas Tech has allowed only two opposing players to score twenty points or more.  Northern Colorado’s Jordan Davis dropped 26 on the Red Raiders November 24th in Lubbock and earlier that week, Nebraska’s Isaac Copeland had 20.

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But in the upcoming weeks, Tech will see some elite scorers such as R.J. Barrett of Duke (23.1 p.p.g.), Christian James of OU (19.9),  Marial Shayok of Iowa State (19.3) and Dedrick Lawson of Kanas (19.0).  That is why tonight’s game against an over-matched Arkansas-Pine Bluff opponent will still be worth watching.  It will be fascinating to see how well the Red Raider defense is able to handle a player that is among the best scorers in the country.

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