Texas Tech basketball: Game info and preview for Iowa

Today, the Texas Tech basketball team faces Iowa in a game that’s likely to be the best test this team has faced to this point.

Tonight, the Texas Tech basketball season begins in earnest.  After five wins over low-major opponents to open that season, the Red Raiders step up in competition significantly to take on Iowa at the Last Vegas Invitational.

Currently, the Hawkeyes are 4-1 on the year with a loss at home to DePaul and four wins over teams that would make those that the Red Raiders have beaten look like murderer’s row.  Still, this is a Big 10 team that presents some problems.

Chief among them is their overall size.  Even with 6-foot-11 starting forward Jack Nunge out for the year, the Hawkeyes will have a significant size advantage over Tech in the post.

Iowa will likely start two centers in Luke Garza and Ryan Kriener who are both 6-foot-10 or taller.  They can also bring a pair of 6-foot-9 forwards in Cordel Pemsl and Patrick McCaffery off the bench.

Also worth noting is that senior guard Jordan Bohannon, one of the Hawkeyes’ best players, sat out Iowa’s last game because of hip soreness.  In May, he underwent surgery on his hip and that has been a huge reason his scoring is down to just seven points per game after he averaged 11.6 a year ago.  How effective he is tonight will be something to watch.

It will be telling to see how Tech’s six freshmen handle the first true neutral-site action of their careers.  The lights will be brighter and the stage a bit larger with a national television audience tuning on on a holiday weekend.

What’s more, the Red Raiders are going to play the role of the villains in Las Vegas, not only because they are the only ranked team in the field but mainly because of Sin City’s angst towards Chris Beard.  Last week’s ruling by the NCAA to deny the eligibility waiver of former UNLV forward and current Texas Tech sophomore Joel Ntambwe opened old wounds in the Beard vs. UNLV drama that began when the Red Raiders lured their head coach away from the Rebels after he had been on the job for only two weeks in 2016.

But if this year’s team is going to reach its goals, it had better be ready to be the hunted.  No longer a plucky little underdog of a program, Tech is now going to enter most games with a target on its back after last season’s run to Minneapolis.

Therefore, this week’s two-game set in Vegas (Tech will face either Creighton or San Diego State on Friday) is a quality test for this rebuilt team to endure before the rigors of Big 12 play.  After this week, we will finally have some meaningful data on just what type of team we have on our hands this year.

Game Info:

GAME TIME

• 7 PM CSST

TELEVISION

• FS1 Jeff Levering • Play-by-Play Casey Jacobsen • Analyst

RADIO

•  Double T 97.3 FM • Tune-In Radio App Geoff Haxton • Play-by-Play Clark Lammert • Analyst