Kansas State Wildcats vs. Texas Tech Red Raiders: Lineups, time, TV and prediction
The details
When/where: 8 p.m. Wednesday, United Supermarkets Arena, Lubbock, Texas
TV/radio: ESPN2; KKGQ (92.3 FM) in Wichita, KCSP (610 AM) in Kansas City.
Projected lineups
P | No. | Kansas State | Ht. | Yr. | PPG |
F | 14 | Makol Mawien | 6-9 | Sr. | 7.4 |
F | 23 | Montavious Murphy | 6-9 | Fr. | 5.0 |
G | 20 | Xavier Sneed | 6-5 | Sr. | 14.2 |
G | 2 | Cartier Diarra | 6-4 | Jr. | 13.1 |
G | 4 | David Sloan | 6-0 | Jr. | 5.2 |
P | No. | Texas Tech | Ht. | Yr. | PPG |
F | 22 | T.J. Holyfield | 6-8 | Sr. | 7.4 |
G | 3 | Jahmi’us Ramsey | 6-4 | Fr. | 15.8 |
G | 25 | Davide Moretti | 6-3 | Jr. | 13.3 |
G | 0 | Kyler Edwards | 6-4 | So. | 11.9 |
G | 1 | Terrence Shannon | 6-6 | fr. | 10.7 |
About Kansas State (9-16, 2-10 Big 12): The Wildcats are looking to end a five-game losing streak that stretches to January. K-State is coming off a 68-57 loss at TCU in which it led by a point in the final minutes before the Horned Frogs finished with a 17-5 run. Consistency issues continue to be a major problem for Bruce Weber’s team, as few K-State players have been able to get hot and stay hot over a string of games. Xavier Sneed, David Sloan and Cartier Diarra reached double figures at TCU, but their teammates all struggled on the offensive end. K-State’s freshmen trio of Montavious Murphy, Antonio Gordon and DaJuan Gordon have struggled of late. The Wildcats will need all three of them to step up if they have any hope on the road against Texas Tech.
About Texas Tech (16-9, 7-5 Big 12): The Red Raiders are coming off a surprising 73-70 loss at Oklahoma State, but they have been playing well of late and have won three of their past four games overall. Texas Tech has been particularly strong at home this season, going 12-2. Its only losses came against Baylor and Kentucky. Chris Beard’s team beat TCU 88-42 in its last home game. Freshman guard Jahmi’us Ramsey has emerged as Texas Tech’s leading scorer, averaging 15.8 points per game. Texas Tech is not quite as strong as it was on defense a year ago, but it has improved on offense. The Red Raiders are shooting 36% from three, 51% from two and 74.4 from the free-throw line. They defeated K-State 77-63 in Manhattan earlier this season.
Prediction
Kansas State hasn’t won at Texas Tech since 2014, and it’s unlikely that changes on Wednesday.
The Red Raiders aren’t as good as they were last year when they shared a Big 12 championship and then advanced to the national championship game, but they are still a top 30 team and strong at home.
They are good enough to beat the Wildcats, who have taken a much harder fall since last March. They have only won one true road game all season, at UNLV in overtime in early November.
Few teams have blown out K-State this season, so it’s possible the Wildcats make a few shots and keep this one close well into the second half. But Texas Tech put a hurting on middling conference opponents Oklahoma State (85-50), Iowa State (72-52) and TCU (88-42) at home earlier this season. It’s also possible this game gets out of hand.
K-State will need to play its best to have any hope at an upset.
Texas Tech 76, K-State 64.