Life on the the road is always difficult in the Big 12. That seems especially true for the Texas Tech basketball team when traveling to Manhattan, Kansas as it will do in tonight's game with Kansas State.
The Red Raiders have won just three of their last ten games at K-State. But they will need to change that trend tonight and get back on the winning side of things after a heartbreaking overtime loss to then-No. 3 Iowa State in Lubbock on Saturday.
The Wildcats have not had the type of season they envisioned when games began back in November. In fact, they are just 7-8 overall and 1-3 in conference games.
What's more, two of their three conference losses have not been at the hands of teams considered contenders to win the league. After beating then-No. 16 Cincinnati at home to start Big 12 action, the Wildcats have dropped games at TCU and Oklahoma State before being blown out at then-No. 12 Houston. Additionally, before Big 12 play began, KSU lost games to Liberty, Wichita State, and Drake.
Back in October, K-State was picked 8th in the preseason Big 12 poll. That was just one spot behind Texas Tech.
However, the two teams have gone in different directions thus far. No, the Red Raiders haven't taken the nation by storm just yet but they have been a competitive team and have flirted with making noise on the national stage. Meanwhile, the Wildcats have been one of the Big 12's biggest disappointments.
Tech enters the game sitting at No. 19 in the NCAA NET Rankings. KSU, on the other hand, is just No. 132 in the NET. That means that should the Red Raiders fail to come out of tonight with a win, it will be viewed as a bad loss for head coach Grant McCasland and his team.
Putting up points has been a challenge for the Wildcats. They are led in scoring by forward David N'Guessan who scores only 12.7 points per game to go along with the 7.7 rebounds he collects each time out.
Their second-leading scorer is a name that many Texas Tech and West Texas basketball fans might remember, Brendan Hausen. The Amarillo native was recruited by Tech out of high school before he signed with Villanova. Now, he's a junior averaging 12.2 points per game and shooting 40.5% from 3-point range in his first season with the Wildcats. He'll likely want to perform well against the Red Raiders given that he grew up not far from Lubbock.
In all, K-State scores just 74.3 points per game. That's over 11 points less than Tech is averaging this season. What's more, the Wildcats give up 4.1 more points per game on defense than the Red Raiders.
Ultimately, this is a game that Tech has to consider a must-win if there is any hope of staying relevant in the Big 12 race. The Red Raiders are the more talented team and are playing better basketball in Big 12 play than the Wildcats are. Thus, this should be an opportunity to stack up another road win.
However, years of struggling to win in "The Octagon of Doom" has made Texas Tech fans nervous about playing at Kansas State. So Red Raider fans will be by the channel tonight to see if McCasland and his team can pick up Big 12 win No. 3.
Texas Tech at Kansas State broadcast information
Tip: 8 p.m. Central
TV: CBS Sports Network
TV CALL: Jordan Kent (play-by-play), Michael O’Donnell (analyst)
TEXAS TECH SPORTS NETWORK: Geoff Haxton (play-by-play), Chris Level (analyst)
Texas Tech vs. Kanas State series history
Tech secured a 60-59 win over K-State last season in Lubbock in the only game the two teams played against each other. The Wildcats are 26-25 in the all-time series, including owning an 18-6 record in Manhattan. Tech has lost the past two meetings in Manhattan but has won seven of the last 10 in the series.
Texas Tech vs. Kansas State odds
Odds courtesy of FanDuel.com.
Favorite | Moneyline | Over/Under |
|---|---|---|
Texas Tech -6.5 | Texas Tech -295 | 144.5 |
Texas Tech at Kansas State game notes
All notes courtesy of TexasTech.com.
- The Red Raiders (11-4, 2-2 Big 12) are currently at No. 17 in the Kenpom ratings and No. 19 in the NCAA NET after an 85-84 overtime loss to No. 3 Iowa State (14-1, 4-0 Big 12) on Saturday and road wins at Utah and BYU.
- The Wildcats are 5-3 on their home court this season and enter the matchup against Tech averaging 74.3 points per game by shooting 45.5 percent from the field and 34.4 percent from 3-point range.
- Tech enters the fifth game of its Big 12 schedule leading the conference by shooting 50.5 percent from the field, with a 58.4 effective field goal percentage and at 77.7 percent from the free-throw line. The Red Raiders are currently 10th in the nation in effective field goal percentage, eighth in field goal percentage, and 25th overall at the charity stripe. Along with leading the Big 12 in the trio of statistical categories, Texas Tech is second in the conference and 13th nationally by scoring 85.4 points per game this season and by shooting 39.7 percent on 3-pointers.
- Grant McCasland will be coaching his 50th game as the Texas Tech head coach on Tuesday night and is now 245-104 (70.2%) in his NCAA career, including his Tech records of 34-15 overall, 13-9 in Big 12 games, 23-4 at home and 6-6 in true road games.