Tonight, the Texas Tech basketball team looks to move to 2-0 on the young season as it hosts Northwestern State. This is the second opportunity for the Red Raiders to gel and work out the early-season kinks against an opponent from a low-mjaor conference.
Tonight will represent quite the step up in competition for the Demons, though. Monday, they opened their season with a 96-55 home victory over Dallas Christian College. Now, they face a Texas Tech team that is expected to be one of the better Big 12 squads this season.
There's no question that Texas Tech head coach Grant McCasland will be looking for better defense from his team tonight. After Tuesdays victory over Bethune-Cookman, he was not pleased with that area of the game, especially with his team's on-ball pressure.
McCasland did say that not having point guards Elijah Hawkins and Christian Anderson to guard the ball was one reason his team struggled in that aspect on Tuesday. As of the time that this post was written, there's no word whether either will play tonight as each deals with lower-body injuries.
Even if Tech has to go with the same lineup as it used in game one, most expect McCasland's squad to prevail tonight. The hope is that Tech will have no trouble with the Demons but still, rabid Red Raider basketball fans will be tuning in to catch the action. So let's look at everything fans need to know ahead of this non-conference game.
Texas Tech vs. Northwestern State broadcast info
Tip: 8 p.m. Central
TV: ESPN+
Radio: Texas Tech Sports Network
Streaming: Varsity Network App
Texas Tech vs. Northwestern State series history
Texas Tech all-time record: 7-0
Last meeting: Tech won 73-49 on November 7, 2022
Texas Tech vs. Northwestern State odds
All odds courtesy of FanDuel.com.
Favorite | Texas Tech total points | Over/Under |
|---|---|---|
Texas Tech -33.5 | O/U 89.5 | 145.5 |
Texas Tech vs. Northwestern State game notes
All game notes courtesy of TexasTech.com.
- Texas Tech's entire Starting 5 scored in double-figures in opener: Walton (21), Toppin (19), McMillian (17), Williams (17), Overton (10)
- Against Bethune-Cookman, Tech matched a program record with 16 3-pointers (16-30 53.3%). It was the 4th time with 16 3s in program history; Tech made 10 or more 3-pointers in 11 games last season with a season-high 15 against Sam Houston and 14 at TCU
- Grant McCasland improved to 235-100 in his career with the win and is now 24-11 overall and 16-2 at home leading the Red Raiders who have won 25 straight season openers as a program.
- Kerwin Walton made a career-high seven 3-pointers against Bethune-Cookman and led the Red Raiders with 21 points in the season-opening win over BethuneCookman on Tuesday night. It was his second career game with 20 or more points only being surpassed by his career-best 22-point performance last season against Omaha. The seven 3-pointers were the most for a Red Raider since McMillian made eight last season at Butler and two off from Alan Voskuil’s program record of nine against Kansas back on March 4, 2009. Walton went 7-for-12 (58.3 percent) on 3-pointers in his 121st career game.
- McMillian drilled four 3-pointers and went off for 17 points, five assists and five rebounds in the season opener. He was 4-for-7 (57.1 percent) from beyond the arc in the game and was only one assist shy of matching his career-high. He enters his second game of his second season at Texas Tech with 1,044 points, 193 assists, 78 steals, 366 rebounds and 49 double-figure scoring performances.