Texas Tech basketball: No. 13 Red Raiders welcome Mississippi State for Big 12/SEC battle
Texas Tech and Mississippi State will run in back — on the hardwood — after the Red Raiders claimed a win in the AutoZone Liberty Bowl last month.
The No. 13 Texas Tech will host the Bulldogs in a 5 p.m. matchup Saturday as part of the Big 12/SEC Challenge inside United Supermarkets Arena.
Texas Tech comes into the matchup after falling 94-91 in double-overtime to No. 5 Kansas at Allen Fieldhouse. Mississippi State is in the same boat, dropping an 82-74 overtime decision to No. 12 Kentucky at Rupp Arena.
"I think we are rested, for the most part — even though that Kansas game was very physical," Texas Tech coach Mark Adams said. "Some of our guys are nursing a few minor injuries.
"But I think, for the most part, we'll be ready to go. ... It will be a fight, it'll be a great battle and we're looking forward to it."
The Red Raiders (15-3 overall, 5-3 in the Big 12) have learned to battle with solid work down low, which starts with Bryson Williams. The UTEP transfer forward has averaged 17.3 points per game during Big 12 play, up from his season average of 13.7.
The 6-foot-8 senior poured in a season-best 33 points, which included a 14-for-19 night from the field and making all four of his three-pointers, in the loss to the Jayhawks. Kevin Obanor aided with 17 points and eight rebounds.
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"We'll see in the game against Mississippi State," Adams said if his team has responded to the Kansas loss well. "But our team also hates to lose. We don't like that losing feeling.
"Anytime you lose, you get exposed and we learned some things about ourselves. Hopefully, we'll take what we've learned and apply it to our game against Mississippi State."
In total, the Red Raiders have five players averaging in double figures: Williams, 13.7 ppg, Terrence Shannon, Jr. (12.0 ppg), Kevin McCullar (11.0 ppg) and Davion Warren (10.5 ppg) and Obanor (10.3 ppg).
Shannon (back) and McCullar (lower leg) are still dealing with nagging injuries while playing for the Red Raiders. Their head coach is hoping they can use the extra rest time to get back to their form soon.
"He's not even close to 100%, right now, as is TJ (Shannon)," Adams said. "We're trying to nurse them along, get them better, to where they can play at a level that they can perform to the best of their ability.
"And I hope that will be in the next week or two. But we expect them to still be about 75-80% as far as their injuries go."
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They'll go up against the Bulldogs (13-6 overall, 4-3 in the SEC), who have not won a true road game in three previous tries this season.
But it's not for lack of effort.
Mississippi State rallied from a 16-point halftime deficit to force overtime, but dropped the overtime decision to the Wildcats on Tuesday. The Bulldogs trailed 45-29 with less than 17 minutes to play before rallying to force the extra period at 72-all.
Iverson Molinar scored 22 of his career-high 30 points after the midway point in the loss. The 6-3 junior guard is a dynamic playmaker and going to be a challenge, according to Adams.
"Molinar is a guy that can shoot the 3, he's just hard to guard when he comes off those ball screens," Adams said. "He can go either way, he can split ya. He's just a nightmare — for a team that plays man-to-man defense — to stay in front of."
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On the flip side, Mississippi State coach Ben Howland feels like his offense — which is averaging 75 points per game — will need to find opportunities to make skip passes to keep the active Texas Tech defense busy all game long.
"First of all, they have great length," Howland said of Texas Tech's defense. "They're really long — their starting team, their smallest guy is 6-6. And they're long, they're athletic.
"But then they have a scheme where they're really ball-side oriented — they push everything sideline, they push everything towards the baseline. ... They're very good at flooding the middle of the floor, sitting in help so it's hard to drive and penetrate."
Along with perimeter play, another facet to getting an advantage in the contest may be the play of Williams and Obanor on the low-block.
The Texas Tech duo will contend with Mississippi State's Tolu Smith (6-11) and Garrison Brooks (6-foot-9) — a graduate student from North Carolina.
"It'll be challenging," Adams said of the battle in the low-block. "They'll double our post players inside. And Bryson's been playing spectacular these last few games.
"They've got a lot of length. And similar to Kansas, in some ways, with their bigs.
Player update
KJ Allen, who has not logged playing time since Jan. 13, has missed several games due in party to an eye injury, Adams said Friday. The former East Los Angeles College standout is also away from the team as he attends to a death in the family.
"Our thoughts and prayers are with KJ," Adams said. "He should be back, hopefully, next week. He went home to be with family as is expected."
Social media scare
Following the Red Raiders three-point, double-overtime loss, McCullar posted a story on Instagram stating he received death threats via social media.
"Appreciate all the energy and death threats! It's what comes with this platform! At 20 years old I've realized more than ever that ups & downs are apart of life but remember everyday truly is a blessing," he wrote on an Instagram story earlier the week.
When asked Friday, Adams said he and his staff are taking things, "very seriously."
"That's unfortunate that that happened," Adams said of McCullar's death threat. "I told our guys way back in the summer that part of my job is to put them in a safe, secure and significant environment. And we'll continue to do that and take that very seriously.
"That's in the past and he's doing great, and we're moving on. That's just an unfortunate, very sad situation that happened."
NO. 13 TEXAS TECH VS. MISSISSIPPI STATE
When: 5 p.m. Saturday
Where: United Supermarkets Arena
Records: Texas Tech 15-5, 5-3 in Big 12, Mississippi State 13-6, 4-3 in SEC
TV: ESPN2
Radio: FM 97.3
Notable: The Red Raiders and Bulldogs are facing each other for the first time in the Big 12/SEC Challenge. ... Texas Tech owns a 5-3 record in the challenge, earning a 76-71 come-from-behind win over LSU last season.
Game updates: Follow @cmsilvajr on Twitter for live updates, with postgame recap and interviews to follow on www.lubbockonline.com.
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: No. 13 Texas Tech welcomes Mississippi State for Big 12/SEC battle
