Texas Tech basketball: Numbers to know for rematch with Kansas State
Let’s get prepared for tonight’s Texas Tech basketball game with Kansas State by going inside the numbers for this matchup.
Tonight, the Texas Tech basketball team will look to get back on the right track after Sunday’s 73-70 loss at Oklahoma State. Coming to Lubbock will be the Kansas State Wildcats, currently owners of the worst conference record in the Big 12 at 2-10.
The ESPN.com matchup predictor gives Chris Beard’s team a 90.8% chance of winning this matchup and it isn’t hard to figure out why. KSU comes into this game losing their last five games and seven of the last eight.
It’s hard to fathom that this was the program that Tech shared last season’s Big 12 regular-season title with. While Tech has remained relevant in the conference race (though not as relevant as we had hoped), the Wildcats have been unable to do what Tech has in compensating for massive losses from last year’s team. It’s another indication of just how impressive of a job Beard has done in building his program rather than just building last year’s team.
Kansas State leads the all-time series 24-19 but Tech has a 12-7 edge in Lubbock. What’s more, Beard is 5-2 overall against the Wildcats.
In fact, Beard has never lost at home to KSU. You have to go back to a 60-56 game in 2014 to find the last time that the Wildcats emerged from United Supermarkets Arena victorious.
Last season’s meeting in the Hub City was a grind it out affair that Tech pulled out 63-57. But after the home team began the game on a 14-0 run, it looked like it would be a breeze of a day.
That didn’t prove to be the case as KSU fought back to pull within two points at 41-39 with just over eight minutes to play. But in the end, Davide Moretti was able to carry his team to an important win.
On a day when Jarrett Culver was just 2-7 from the floor and finished with just nine points, Moretti was 7-11 on his way to 19 points. He was 3-7 from behind the arc while also grabbing four rebounds, handing out a pair of assists, and coming up with two steals before fouling out late.
The last time these programs met, it was Kyler Edwards who was the hero. Scoring 24 points in Manhattan, he took over down the stretch of a tight game as Tech pulled away late for a 77-63 win that felt much closer than the final score would suggest it was.
Edwards was 9-13 from the field and 3-4 from long range. He was the man Beard went to on critical possessions as he and T.J. Holyfield perfectly executed the pick-and-roll game to exploit the KSU defense.
In that game, Moretti had 14 points as all six of his field-goal attempts came from 3-point range (he made three). Meanwhile, Jahmi’us Ramsey was the third Red Raider starter in double-digits with 10 points.
But according to Beard, the star of that game was Kevin McCullar. The freshman had his best game to that point as a Red Raider with 10 points, five rebounds (four on offense), and three steals. That was his third double-digit scoring game of the year and now he enters the rematch with consecutive double-digit games including 15 against Oklahoma State on Saturday.
So let’s go inside the numbers to find out where this contest will likely be decided. We will begin by looking at one of the few statistical categories in which Kansas State excels.