Texas Tech basketball: Big 12 schedule set up for strong start
The Texas Tech basketball team must take advantage of January’s Big 12 schedule which is set up to give the Red Raiders a strong start to league play.
The Big 12’s round-robin basketball schedule ensures that the league champion will have arguably the toughest path to a title of any team in the nation each year. But while every team in the league will see each conference foe twice, there can be some breaks in how the games fall for each team. This year, the Texas Tech basketball team has a backloaded conference schedule meaning that the Red Raiders must get off to a strong start if they want to bring home the regular season title.
Specifically, the month of January is set up for Tech to build some momentum. Already having won a road game at West Virginia, one of the toughest road trips in the nation, Tech now has four of its next seven Big 12 games at home starting with Saturday’s home tilt with Kansas State.
Overall, Tech has five of the next eight at home if the non-conference home game against Arkansas on January 26th is to be included. And it appears that none of those games will come against ranked opponents.
The best team Tech will see at home in January will likely be Oklahoma, which comes to town on Tuesday night. The Sooners are currently ranked No. 23 but could fall out of the rankings after a loss at Kansas on Wednesday.
More from Wreck'Em Red
- Texas Tech football: Red Raider fans need to know about these Mountaineers
- Texas Tech football: Red Raiders land first commit for class of 2025
- Texas Tech football: Why have the Red Raiders struggled on the road under McGuire?
- Texas Tech football: Why the Red Raiders can compete for a Big 12 title
- Texas Tech football: Plenty of questions remain as conference play arrives
TCU, which plays in Lubbock on January 28th, is currently 11-1 and could conceivably be ranked by the time they play the Red Raiders. But the Frogs face a tough set of back-to-back games playing at Kansas on January 9th and at Oklahoma on January 12th. What’s more, they face strong opponents in Texas and Florida in the two games prior to their trip to Lubbock so there is no guarantee that they will come to town ranked.
The Red Raiders also appear to benefit from playing Kansas State twice in the first seven games of the Big 12 season. After Saturday’s matchup at United Supermarkets Arena, Tech will see the Wildcats again on January 22nd.
KSU is without their two best players, Dean Wade and Kamau Stokes, and while both may return at some point this year neither is expected to be back before their season series with the Red Raiders is completed. And even if one or both do return by the time Tech heads to Manhattan, it would be hard to envision either being at full-strength after a long layoff.
It may turn out that Tech’s January 16th game at home against Iowa State could be a key in this year’ s conference race. The Cyclones are 11-2 thus far and feature the Big 12’s leading scorer, Marial Shayok along with two players in Lindell Wigginton and Cameron Lard that gave Tech fits last season.
Life on the road in January does not look too daunting either. Aside from the trip to Kansas State, Tech will visit 8-4 Baylor (which has lost home games to Texas Southern and Stephen F. Austin already this year) and 9-4 Texas. Though Tech has not won in Austin since the late 1990’s, this could be the year to break that streak considering that the Horns have already dropped home games to Radford, VCU and Providence.
Coming up big in January will be key because February will be a tough stretch for the Red Raiders. Beginning with the February 2nd game at Kansas, Chris Beard’s team will face a stretch that sees Tech on the road for three of four games including back-to-back games in Oklahoma facing the Sooners and Cowboys.
February does close with two home games but one is against Kansas, the only team to win in Lubbock least year. In the second month of Big 12 play, the Red Raiders see the Jayhawks twice in what is shaping up to be two epic contests that may decide the league race.
What we learned in win over West Virginia. dark. Next
Of course, Beard will be the first to point out that every game in the Big 12 is like a prize fight and Wednesday’s game against West Virginia was proof. Before the Red Raiders can even entertain thoughts of dethroning the 14-time reigning conference champs, they must take advantage of January’s favorable schedule starting with Saturday’s home tilt against a wounded Kansas State team.