Texas Tech basketball: Matchups to watch as Red Raiders host Bears

McClung vs. Mitchell

Today, all eyes will be on the matchup of Mac McClung and Baylor’s shutdown defender Davion Mitchell.  It will be a showdown of the Big 12’s co-leader in scoring average in league play (McClung) against the player who many believe is the best defensive player in the nation (Mitchell).

"“We won’t face a defender all year, is my guess, like Mitchell,” said Illinois coach Brad Underwood after their loss to Baylor. “Mitchell was the MVP of the game. He never missed a call, he never missed an assignment. He’s so strong, so athletic.”"

People inside the program have given Mitchell the nickname of “Off Day” because whomever he guards almost always has one.  That’s been true of some excellent guards over the last two seasons.

A season ago, Mitchell held Iowa State’s Tyrese Haliburton, the future No. 12 pick in the 2020 NBA Draft to six points on 2-12 shooting.  What’s more, he shut down the future No. 18 pick Josh Green of Arizona by limiting him to just eight points on 3-9 shooting.  Can he do the same to the dynamic McClung?

What makes Mitchell so unusual is that he isn’t a big guard.  Just 6-foot-2, 205-pounds, he is not all that much larger than McClung (though he does have about 20 pounds on the Tech guard).  Still, Mitchell plays defense like an angry velociraptor and that physicality is hard for most guards to deal with.

It will be interesting to see how tightly this game is called.  That’s because Mitchell likes to get into the body of the man he defends.  But McClung has proven more than adept at drawing fouls.  With 39 free throw attempts on the year, McClung has been to the line more times than any other player in the Big 12’s top-15 players in free-throw shooting percentage.

Against Texas, he was awarded 10 foul shots.  That was the third time this year that he has been to the line double-digit times in a game.

That stat could be important to watch today because if Mitchell makes life tough on McClung, the Red Raider guard may be able to still get his points one at a time.  So it will be important that Beard works the officials to ensure that they don’t let Mitchell get too physical.

But regardless of how this game is called, McClung has a huge test in front of him today.  If he passes it, the Red Raiders could be in store for another signature victory.