So far this season, it’s more than clear that the No. 19 Texas Tech Red Raiders men’s basketball team has some serious talent and potential. At 8-3 overall, the Red Raiders have shown the ability to go out and beat some decent opponents.
Unfortunately though, all of Texas Tech’s losses have come against ranked opponents. Like the No. 14 Illinois Fighting Illini, that handed the Red Raiders a 4-point loss on November 11. Or the No. 1 Purdue Boilermakers that beat Texas Tech by 30 points in the Bahamas. And then there’s the seven-point loss in Dallas to the No. 17 Arkansas Razorbacks.
Now Texas Tech gets to go for another matchup with another ranked team away from Lubbock. And this one might be enough to prove that the Red Raiders’ potential could go unrealized this season unless something drastic changes. Or maybe it proves just what Texas Tech’s ceiling can be this season.
In Manhattan, the Texas Tech men’s basketball team will meet up with the No. 3 Duke Blue Devils, who have been astonishingly good this year.
Texas Tech must deliver on the road as the No. 19 Red Raiders face their biggest test yet vs. the No. 3 Duke Blue Devils
While the Red Raiders have stumbled in each of their three ranked matchups so far this season, Duke has simply bulldozed right over its ranked foes. The Blue Devils have beaten No. 24 Kansas by 12 points, No. 22 Arkansas by nine points, No. 15 Florida by just one point, and then No. 7 Michigan State by six points.
This game is huge for Texas Tech. The Red Raiders can prove that they’re better than what they’ve shown up to this point or they can suffer yet another loss to yet another ranked team.
Cameron Boozer has been remarkable for the Blue Devils, leading Duke with 23.3 points per game and 10.2 rebounds per game. He’s going to be difficult to account for.
And then there's what the Blue Devils do on defense. Up to this point in the season, Duke is holding folks to 34.6 percent shooting from the field while also limiting opponents to just 60.8 points per game. That’s not insignificant.
It’ll be fascinating to see how Boozer and JT Toppin perform in this game. Just as Boozer is thriving for the Blue Devils, Toppin has been performing at a similarly impressive level for the Red Raiders. In case you’ve missed it, Toppin is averaging 21.9 points per game while also snagging 10.6 rebounds per game.
If he and Christian Anderson can get some support from Texas Tech’s bench, then there’s a shot that this game goes the way the Red Raiders need it to.