Texas Tech embraces tough Big 12 stretch beginning Saturday against Kansas

Unranked Texas Tech will play No. 3 Kansas on Saturday and No. 6 Baylor on Monday in a pair of marquee home games for the Red Raiders at United Supermarkets Arena in Lubbock, Texas.

“We’re going to try to schedule the (Boston) Celtics on Sunday to get a little bit more competition in that three-day span,” first-year Texas Tech coach Chris Beard said on Thursday’s Big 12 coaches teleconference.

All kidding aside …

“I think this is great. We couldn’t ask for a better opportunity to play two of the best teams in the country on our home floor in a three-day period. It’s going to be great for basketball in Lubbock as well. I don’t shy away from it at all,” Beard said.

The Red Raiders (16-8, 4-7 Big 12), who are 14-1 at home this season, may need a strong showing in Saturday’s 1 p.m. game against Kansas (21-3, 9-2) and in Monday’s 6 p.m., contest against Baylor (21-3, 8-3) to impress NCAA Tournament committee members. The committee upon meeting in March, likely won’t be impressed with the Red Raiders’ nonconference schedule, which according to Kenpom.com ranks 350th out of 351 teams. The Red Raiders’ overall strength of schedule is 79.

“We respect the competition. We also embrace the opportunity,” Beard said of the upcoming games against the Big 12 heavyweights.

Texas Tech will also play No. 13 West Virginia on Feb. 18 in Morgantown.

“I told our guys, Beard said, ‘Years from now we are not going to be sitting around talking about the two nonconference games we played in November, but this is an opportunity we could be years from now sitting around talking about that great run we had the last month of this season.’

“As a competitor and guy who loves basketball, eventually we want to get our program to the point where Kansas’ program is and Baylor’s program is. There’s no better way than to dive in and compete with them head on.”

Texas Tech, which has lost 15 straight games to Kansas, including six straight in Lubbock, has one signature home win this season — a 77-76 overtime victory over then-No. 7 West Virginia on Jan. 3.

“We understand how difficult the games are going to be,” Beard said.

Texas Tech has already played both Baylor and KU tough. The Red Raiders lost to the Bears, 65-61, on Jan. 25 in Waco, Texas. Tech trailed Kansas by five points with 8:22 left in an 85-68 loss to the Jayhawks on Jan. 7 at Allen Fieldhouse.

“We’ll have to play our best game of the year,” Beard said of Saturday’s game against the Jayhawks. “We’ll have to play our best 40 minutes.

“We’ll have to be consistent. Every guy on our team will have to show up, have a great individual game. We’ll have to hope Kansas helps us a little bit, but that’s why you play the game.”

Texas Tech’s Zach Smith and Aaron Ross scored 17 points each, while Keenan Evans had 16 in the first meeting against KU. Frank Mason answered with 26 points for Kansas, while Devonté Graham had 20 and Josh Jackson 17.

“It was a real good game until late,” Kansas’ Graham said. “They are long and athletic,” Graham added. “They’ve got some good guards. It’ll be hard to win down there in Lubbock. It always is.”

Evans, a junior guard from Richardson, Texas, averages a team-leading 14.4 points per game, while Smith, a junior forward from Plano, Texas, averages 13.0 points and 7.8 rebounds. Anthony Livingston, a senior forward from Washington, D.C., and Ross, a senior forward from North Little Rock, Ark., average 11.5 and 10.2 points per game respectively.

“Obviously they have balance,” Kansas coach Bill Self said. “Their first shot defense is very good. They are the best defensive rebounding team in our conference hands down. They are sound. You have to beat them. They are not going to help you beat them.

“They are 4-7 in the league now. But that 4-7 could easily be 7-4,” Self added.

The Jayhawks enter Saturday’s game with a one-game lead over Baylor in the Big 12 race. West Virginia, which will play at KU on Monday, is two games back. The Mountaineers play host to Kansas State on Saturday.

“We’ve got a tough stretch coming up right here,” Graham said of Kansas’ schedule. “We go to Texas Tech, then we’ve got West Virginia and Baylor,” Graham said.

“There’s going to be some good, tough games down the stretch. Every game is important, especially to win the league.”

Beard, a former Texas Tech assistant, said he has enjoyed being a head coach in the league.

“One of the first things we mention to recruits, kind of the backbone of everything we do is how proud we are to be in the Big 12. It presents opportunity after opportunity,” Beard said.

“There are a lot of coaches around the country coaching good teams that would like the opportunity to play these kind of games (and) flip the script quickly on their resume. There’s a lot of ways we still control our own future as does everybody in the Big 12 because everybody is so good.

“It’s one of the reasons I wanted to coach here. I want to coach the best players. I want to coach the highest level. The Big 12 gives you the opportunity to do that every night.”

This story was originally published February 10, 2017 at 5:47 PM with the headline "Texas Tech embraces tough Big 12 stretch beginning Saturday against Kansas."