Last week, Kansas followed up a big home win on Saturday with a blowout loss on the road after a quick comeback on Monday. Unfortunately, preparations are underway for a repeat performance to happen this week. Playing the full 40 minutes in Saturday's game against Baylor and then playing in Lubbock with a short rest period is tough in itself. However, Kevin McCullough, who missed Saturday's game, appears unlikely to return with Bill Self admitting he was “barely able to move” after Saturday's tough win. Self said after the game, “I can't imagine Kevin being this good on Monday.'' Additionally, there is currently no update on the status of Dajuan Harris, who was briefly removed from Saturday's game after apparently twisting his ankle. Although he has returned, he appears to be playing through pain, and it remains to be seen whether this will be a long-term issue. Even with Harris, Kansas was also without freshman Jamari McDowell, forcing it to play against Baylor with just seven scholarship players.
As for Texas Tech, don't expect to see the Red Raiders of the Chris Beard or Mark Adams era. Modern high-tech teams have turned each game into a defensive challenge, tough to play against and tough to watch as someone who enjoys good basketball. New coach Grant McCasland, hired by Tech after a string of success at North Texas, has the Red Raiders performing well offensively, but defensively has taken a backseat. In some ways, Tech is similar to the Baylor team we saw earlier. Like Baylor, they shoot threes very well (he's 1st in Big 12 plays), but not as often (though more Big 12 plays than non-con). Junior Chance McMillian is a consistent deep threat, making 42.5% of his 113 three-point attempts. Pop Isaacs takes a ton of threes (174), but not at an amazing success rate (only 32.8%). However, Isaacs is willing to get to the basket, draw fouls, and score by making 82.1% of his free throws.
As a team, Tech ranks 5th in the Big 12 in 2P% and 1st in 3P%, good for the second-highest eFG%. They're also good with the ball, although that usually isn't a big factor against Kansas (although they did have 17 steals against Baylor). Good news for a KU team as they have struggled offensively and allowed their opponents to do some damage, but they have been even worse defensively so it would be nice if the Jayhawks could catch some of their mistakes. right. If the situation is timely, it will definitely help their case. Defensively, Tech's numbers probably look a little worse in Big 12 play due to bad luck with their three-point defense, but their defense inside the arc is only 8th in the league, and they have very few blocked shots. , which actually does almost nothing of note. From avoiding fouls.
prediction
If I knew Harris was healthy and McCuller was doing well, I think I would actually go ahead and predict a road win against a strong team here. I like this matchup better than a Big 12 team that may not be as good overall as the Red Raiders. But if McCuller is still out, Harris is battling ankle soreness, and the Jayhawks have at most eight scholarship players at their disposal, a win in Lubbock will likely demand a little more. I think Kansas State has done enough to keep it from getting ugly, but this is a very difficult task for a team that is already dealing with challenges on the road.
Texas Tech 77, Kansas State 70
