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No. 20 Texas Tech heads to Oklahoma on Saturday to take on the No. 11 ranked Sooners with a chance to extend its lead in the Big 12 Conference.
The Red Raiders will end the week without a midweek game, but it’s a much-needed game amid the continued strain on Tech’s tight rotation all season.
“The bye came at a great time for us,” head coach Grant McCasland said. “We play a few important minutes there, so we needed a little bit of a breather. Between Saturday’s game and this game against Oklahoma, we gave them a few days off.”
The Sooners suffered a loss on their home court to Texas while Tech was resting, but Texas has recently turned things around after a slow start to January with a loss to the Red Raiders in Austin.
“Oklahoma lost at home to Texas, but that’s going to give us an advantage in the environment we’re going to step into,” McCasland said. “They can make those adjustments more quickly. I don’t know exactly how it will affect this game, but I think they’ll have it in place for this game.”
The Red Raiders enter this game with a 4-1 record in the Big 12 and head into the weekend in first place.
“It’s funny how you look at the schedule, you just look at it like, ‘If we win this, we’re going to be good,'” McCasland said. “You can’t look at something and think, ‘Hey, if I just get this, I’ll be able to handle it.’ Honestly, it’s better to focus on the process and getting better every day. So this game I’d be lying if I said it was more important. I mean, I think it couldn’t be more important.”
Like many Big 12 opponents, the Sooners present unique challenges for the Red Raiders.
Siena transfer Javian McCollum will headline a quality guard corps for the Sooners. McCollum averages 14.6 points per game and has scored in double figures in five of the Sooners’ six conference games.
“When you talk about the Big 12 and great teams, you talk about great guard play, and these guys have great guard play,” McCasland said. “Obviously, McCollum is a guy who has to get attention and find a way to limit his great looks. He’s made some plays that put you in a lot of difficult situations.”
Otega Oweh and Milos Uzan complete the quality frontcourt, and their defensive ability strengthens Porter Moser’s group.
“I mean, they just play really hard,” McCasland said. “They have some different ways of varying their ball screen coverage and have made some adjustments like the last few games in terms of who they want to play with and how they want to play. They turn you over. We are an effective team when we can.”
The Red Raiders and Sooners will play the final game Saturday at 1 p.m. at the Lloyd Noble Center in Norman, which will be broadcast on ESPN+.
See more Texas Tech coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.
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