(Photo/Gregg Ellman )
Lubbock, TX — Lubbock on Tuesday. Fort Worth on Thursday.
This is the new plan for the series between these two teams as both games had been postponed due to winter weather conditions in Texas. Tuesday night’s game is set for 6:00 p.m, Thursday’s game time has yet to be announced.
TCU (12-10) is coming off a 76-72 win over Iowa State on Saturday. Mike Miles and RJ Nembhard led the team with 19 points a piece. Nembhard scored 11 of his 19 points in the last seven minutes of the game to push TCU to the victory. Chuck O’Bannon added 11 points and Kevin Samuel had 10 points. TCU had a well rounded offense against the Cyclones and that’s what ultimately led them to a win.
TCU has struggled all season with depth in their offensive, Nembhard carries the weight for most of the team but Saturday they looked more like a unit than a single player trying to out shoot an entire team by himself. Turnovers have also been an issue for TCU throughout the entire season, giving up the ball 20.2 percent of the time.
The Horned Frogs defense has been decent due to Samuel being under the basket. He leads TCU in rebounds and crashes the boards well, giving TCU a good presence under the basket limiting the opposing team second chance opportunities.
Texas Tech (16-8) is coming off a 68-59 win over No. 15 Texas earlier this week stopping a three-game losing streak. Four of their five starters scored in the double figures and Mac McClung led with 16 points and four rebounds. With that being said, even the bench players made valuable contributions to the win over Texas, combining for 17 points.
The Red Raiders defense is excellent, they are coming into this game forcing the tenth-most turnovers in college basketball. Texas Tech leans on their defense due to the fact that they are not shooting the ball very well this season. The forced turnovers their defense creates and offensive rebounding is what has led then to having a good year.
Defensively, TCU will have to capitalize on the fact that Texas Tech can’t shoot very well and force the outside shot. The Red Raiders shot 30 percent from beyond the arc in their last matchup.
TCU will have to shut down McClung. He averages 16.8 points per game and has scored at least 16 points in four of the last five games. Samuel will have to crash the boards and limit the offensive rebounds that Texas Tech relies heavily on.
Tip off is set for 6:00 p.m.
