Texas Tech basketball: Numbers to know as Red Raiders head to Ames

We help you get ready for today’s Texas Tech basketball game at Iowa State with some important numbers to know about this matchup.

Iowa State fans are the most loyal in the Big 12, if not the nation.  Whether in football or basketball, the people of Ames pack the house to support their team regardless of how the current season is unfolding.  That’s one reason that the Texas Tech basketball team won’t have an easy time of things this evening despite the Cyclone’s disappointing year.

At 11-15 overall, ISU sits in 8th place in the conference with a 4-9 record.  They’ve lost six of their last eight games but they have won their last two home games over Kansas State and Texas.  And in their most recent showing at Hilton Coliseum, over 14,000 fans showed up to cheer their team on to an 81-52 triumph over the Longhorns.

Of course, Texas Tech fans won’t soon forget the last time the Red Raiders were in Ames.  Closing out the 2018-19 regular season with an 80-73 win in a building that has long been a house of horrors, Chris Beard’s team clinched a share of the Big 12 title.

It was the day that Jarrett Culver had his greatest game as a Red Raider.  On his way to a career-high 31 points, the Lubbock native came up huge time and again down the stretch to help his team hold off a challenge from the team that just a week later would win the Big 12 Tournament in Kansas City.

Meanwhile, Davide Moretti added 20 points thanks in large part to 4-6 shooting from 3-point range.  Interestingly, Kyler Edwards was held without a point as Brandone Francis’ six points were the only scoring Tech would receive from the bench.

It was just the fourth time in 17 attempts that Tech won in Ames and it could not have been a more important win.  Though today’s game comes with significantly lower stakes, it’s still an important opportunity for Tech.

This team needs to begin to pick up momentum as March nears and in the last two games, what we’ve seen from Beard’s team has been less than inspiring.  Winning in Ames would be a nice sign that this team is starting to come together in time for a March run because even if the Cyclones are not at their usual level this year, they present a tough challenge for any team when they are defending their home court.

Keep in mind that Tech sits just one game ahead of West Virginia in the Big 12 race at 7-5.  The Mountaineers are in Fort Worth today to take on a TCU team that has lost seven of its last eight games meaning a loss in Ames for the Red Raiders will almost certainly mean West Virginia will move into a third-place tie in the conference standings.

So let’s get prepared for game 27 of the season by going inside the numbers of this matchup.  And we will start with what is missing from the ISU lineup today.