While the Texas Tech Red Raiders have already faced tougher competition than what they’ll get in each of their next two games, the timing that Grant McCasland’s team will have to navigate the next two matchups will be interesting and could play a role in the outcome of both of those games.
This weekend, Texas Tech will be in Orlando, Florida as the Red Raiders take on the UCF Knights. While UCF isn’t exactly the most imposing opponent ever, it wouldn’t be a good idea for the Red Raiders to just take this one for granted.
Not if Texas Tech has championship aspirations, that is.
And then on Monday, the Red Raiders will return home to play a college basketball blue blood in the Kansas Jayhawks.
How will the Texas Tech Red Raiders handle their quick turnaround from the UCF Knights on Saturday to the Kansas Jayhawks on Monday?
While Kansas doesn’t appear to be having a truly dominant season, they’re still looking to be a pretty solid team that is right in the midst of the Big 12 right now alongside the UCF Knights. Texas Tech will go from facing a team that is 16-4 overall and 5-3 in Big 12 play on Saturday to facing a team that is 15-5 overall and 5-2 against Big 12 teams so far on Monday.
And it’s worth keeping in mind that the Red Raiders are having to do a fair bit of travel to make each of these games happen. After playing in Orlando this weekend, Texas Tech returns home to Lubbock to meet up with the Jayhawks to get the month of February kicked off.
This is a pretty interesting (and potentially pivotal) scheduling test for the Red Raiders. How will Texas Tech handle that?
Texas Tech’s rotation hasn’t exactly incorporated an extensive or deep bench. To be completely honest, the Red Raiders are relying pretty heavily upon their starters right now. How fresh will Texas Tech be when they meet up with Kansas? Can McCasland get the Red Raiders to build a solid lead and then give some of the starters some rest against UCF?