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Texas Tech basketball: Red Raiders add Troy to replace St. John’s

By Matthew Conner

March 30, 2019; Anaheim, CA, USA; Texas Tech Red Raiders head coach Chris Beard celebrates the victory over Gonzaga Bulldogs following the championship game of the west regional of the 2019 NCAA Tournament at Honda Center. Mandatory Credit: Robert Hanashiro-USA TODAY Sports
March 30, 2019; Anaheim, CA, USA; Texas Tech Red Raiders head coach Chris Beard celebrates the victory over Gonzaga Bulldogs following the championship game of the west regional of the 2019 NCAA Tournament at Honda Center. Mandatory Credit: Robert Hanashiro-USA TODAY Sports /
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Scheduling on the fly, the Texas Tech basketball team has added Troy to the schedule to replace the canceled St. John’s game.

The Texas Tech basketball team has found a replacement for St. Johns, which backed out of Thursday’s Big 12/Big East Challenge game in Lubbock due to COVID-19 concerns.  Now, the Red Raiders will play Troy in Lubbock on Friday night.

This will be a step down in competition for sure.  The Red Storm are currently 3-0 on the season and playing well in their first season under head coach Mike Anderson.

Meanwhile, Troy is 1-1 on the year with a two-point win over Western Colorado and a 23-point loss to North Carolina-Wilmington on their resume.  What’s more, they are coming off of a season that saw them go just 9-22.

Still, it was important for Tech to find a replacement game given that there are precious few opportunities for improvement prior to the start of Big 12 play.  With Kansas set to come to Lubbock to begin league action on December 17, there are only four games until the Red Raiders have to contend with the Jayhawks.  Thus, the Red Raiders couldn’t afford not to find a replacement for this game.

https://twitter.com/TexasTechMBB/status/1333938450463027202?s=20

But while getting a game back onto the schedule for this week is a great development, Tech is going to suffer when it comes to its strength of schedule by facing one of the worst Sun Belt Conference teams instead of a mid-tier Big East team.  However, Beard and his team are simply happy to have an opponent and they are focused on what they can control.

"“We don’t miss a beat,” Beard said Monday on his weekly radio show when discussing the cancelation of the St. John’s game.  “We’ve got this thing set up where we’re expecting the unexpected.  It’s going to be a unique year in college basketball.”"

Beard then went on to refer to the Villanova and Virginia Tech game from last week, which was scheduled on short notice.  In that contest, the No. 3 Wildcats were upset by Virginia Tech 81-73 in OT sending some significant waves through the NCAA basketball world.

Tech isn’t likely to suffer the same fate as the Wildcats as the favorite against Troy.  The Trojans are not a high-major opponent and they don’t figure to be a huge threat to the Red Raiders unless something goes horribly awry for Beard and his team.

This new game will take place at 8 p.m. on Friday night and all tickets that had been issued for the St. Johns’ contest will be honored.  The game will be broadcast on ESPN2 as well as on 97.3 FM in Lubbock.

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