Texas Tech comes to Morgantown after historically bad beatdown

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Texas Tech coach Tubby Smith, struggling to explain his squad’s 81-36 cave-in at Oklahoma, found comfort in a cliche.

“You are never as bad as your worst loss,” he said.

He hopes they don’t come any worse than what transpired Wednesday night in Norman.

While the Red Raiders have rarely looked crisp offensively this season, the 36 points represented the fewest points ever in a Big 12 game. After producing only 11 baskets and shooting 21 percent, Texas Tech faces another difficult road trip Saturday at No.17 West Virginia.

“Knowing Tubby the way I know Tubby, he’ll have them ready,” said Mountaineers coach Bob Huggins. “The Oklahoma game—that’s probably never happened to him in his career. I think they went 1 for their first 18 (shooting), and that makes it hard to win.”

West Virginia won 78-67 in Lubbock earlier this month, shooting 47 percent (its fifth-best outing this season) and placing five players in double figures, led by Juwan Staten’s 16 points.

West Virginia’s point guard admitted it was strange watching Texas Tech cut-ups from the past week, when the Raiders upset then-No. 9 Iowa State before being embarrassed by Oklahoma.

“That’s just the makeup of our league,” Staten said. “The same thing sort of happened to us—we beat Oklahoma (by 21) and then we went out and lost to Texas (by 27).”

Fellow guard Gary Browne found deeper evidence as to why WVU can’t overlook Texas Tech:

“They beat Iowa State and Iowa State beat us, so we’ve got to come out ready.”

No. 17 WEST VIRGINIA (17-3, 5-2) vs. TEXAS TECH (11-10, 1-7)

Tipoff: Saturday at noon Eastern in Morgantown (ESPNU)

Scouting the Red Raiders: Texas Tech has an 0-7 record away from Lubbock this season and stands just 6-43 the past four years. … Junior college transfer guard Devaugntah Williams (10.6 points) is the lone double-digits scorer, though he is 1-of-10 shooting in his past two road losses. … Senior guard Toddrick Gotcher, a career 5.4-point scorer, has averaged 15.3 in his last three meetings against West Virginia. … Tech’s primary bigs are freshmen, 6-9 Norense Odiase (6.6 points, 4.5 rebounds) and  6-10 Isaiah Manderson (4.3 points, 2.2 rebounds). “We have to remember that we have seven new faces on our team that are adjusting to Division I basketball in the toughest league in the country,” Smith said. “There is a learning curve.” … From 351 Division I teams, the Red Raiders rank 307th in field-goal percentage, 312th in assist-to-turnover ratio and 275th in scoring.

Coaching the Red Raiders: The 63-year-old Smith (536-254 in his 24th season) is the Big 12’s oldest head coach. After taking Tulsa and Georgia to the NCAA tournament, he won a national championship at Kentucky in 1998 and most recently enjoyed six years of moderate success at Minnesota.

Mountaineers musings: West Virginia tops the nation in forced turnovers (22.1) and steals (12.6) and benefited from 22 Tech turnovers in the first meeting. … Forwards Devin Williams (11 points, 7.9 rebounds) and Jonathan Holton (9.4 points, 5.9 rebounds) and guard Daxter Miles (6.1 points, 2.3 rebounds) have started every game this season. … Despite ranking 270th in field-goal percentage, WVU ranks 23rd in scoring (77.1 per game). … Staten ranks fourth in the Big 12 in scoring (14.9), third in assists (4.3) and he’s tied for second in free-throw attempts (119). … The Mountaineers have won all five regular-season meetings since joining the Big 12 three years ago, while Texas Tech claimed the lone postseason matchup in the 2013 conference tournament. … Huggins owns a 757-303 record in 33 seasons, including a 167-94 mark at West Virginia.

RPIs: West Virginia 16, Texas Tech 171

Line: West Virginia favored by 16.5

Prediction: West Virginia 75-63





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