Texas Tech basketball must avoid trap against Abilene Christian

Ahead of next week’s showdown with Duke, the Texas Tech basketball team faces a potential trap game tonight against Abilene Christian.

Tonight, the No. 11 Texas Tech basketball team returns to the court, albeit an unfamiliar one, looking to remain perfect on the season. But with a showdown against No. 2 Duke looming and a special event to close out the Lubbock Municipal Coliseum tonight, the Red Raiders’ focus will be tested by a sneaky-good Abilene Christian team.

The Wildcats arrive looking to spoil the farewell to the former home of Texas Tech basketball and pull off one last upset in a venue that has seen more than its share. At 9-1 overall, ACU is off to the program’s best start since moving up to Division I in 2013-14.

Head coach Joe Golding has the Cats on the rise after guiding them to their first non sub-.500 season in a decade last year going 16-16. That is due in large part to his team’s experience level. ACU features eight upperclassmen and is led by a pair of seniors.

6-foot-6 Jaren Lewis leads the team in scoring at 15.2 points per game while 6-foot-2 Jaylen Franklin is a point guard that stuffs the stat sheet averaging 8.1 points, 5.1 assists, 2.9 rebounds and 1.7 steals per game. Tech will also have to contend with a pair of juniors in Jalone Friday and Payten Ricks who are combining to average 25.0 points per game.

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The Wildcats will be one of the better offensive teams Texas Tech has faced thus far. They are shooting a collective 52.4% from the field en route to averaging 80.7 points thus far.

Tech must defend the arc tonight as ACU is connecting on 7.7 threes per game. They are hitting 43.5% from deep while Tech is allowing opponents to make just 25.1% meaning that the three-point line will go a long way in telling the story of this contest.

Defensively, the Cats have also been very good. They are allowing just 61.4 points per game and have held seven of ten opponents below 70 points.

After facing five teams in the bottom 30 in the nation in scoring margin, Tech now must deal with a team that ranks No. 16 overall in that stat outscoring opponents by an average of 18.7 points. But some of that may be attributed to their schedule which has not featured a major conference opponent and has seen three Division III or lower teams comprise a third of their victories.

But ACU has beaten Division I teams Denver, Pacific and Cal-Riverside on the road. Their lone loss thus far was a 77-62 loss at 5-2 Pepperdine on December 1st.

Of course, this is a game Texas Tech expects to win. But it has all the makings of a classic trap game. With a trip to New York set for next week to take on the most high-profile opponent in the game, Tech must not become blinded by the bright lights of Broadway from 2,000 miles away.

Next. Texas Tech moves up to No. 11. dark

Under the yellowish lights of the old Coliseum tonight, Chris Beard must make certain that his team displays the same poise and focus it has shown all season when taking on lesser opponents. By taking care of business, Tech likely ensures that Thursday’s game with Duke will be a top-10 matchup that will have the attention of the nation. But one slip up against a confident and experienced Abilene Christian team would take quite a bit of juice out of what should be the most anticipated non-conference game in program history.

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