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

Santos-Siva vs. Tchamwa Tchatchoua

In the paint, Tech could really use a big game from Marcus Santos-Silva.  That’s because, if one of these guard-heavy teams gets some serious scoring from their lone true post presence, it will likely turn the tide.

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Baylor is an unusual team in that of their eight leaders in minutes played, seven are guards.  The only big man they play more than 15 minutes per game is Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua, a 6-foot-8, 245-pound sophomore.

A former UNLV transfer who played with former Texas Tech forward Joel Ntambwe in Vegas, Tchatchoua has blossomed this year.  He’s shooting 62.5% from the floor and he leads Baylor in rebounds at 7.2 per game while scoring 9 points per game.

Rebounding will be key this afternoon.  Baylor is tops in the Big 12 with a margin of +8.1 while Tech is just fifth with a margin of +3.5.

Thus, Santos-Silva needs to be a presence on the glass, as well as the score sheet.  But he hasn’t had a huge rebounding game in quite some time.

After opening the season with games of 13 and 10 rebounds, Santos-Silva has not had a game over seven boards since.  What’s more, he hasn’t had more than five in a game since the December 22nd win over Oklahoma.

Tchatchoua is a player that Santos-Silva could take advantage of.  He doesn’t block but 0.5 shots per game and he won’t have a huge size advantage the way Texas’ Jericho Sims did.  Thus, if the Tech big man can give his team a significant edge in the paint, he will have a huge role in deciding the outcome of this game.