Pregaming – Texas Tech

Teams: Oklahoma State (14-6, 2-4) vs. Texas Tech (10-11, 2-4)

Location: United Spirit Arena – Lubbock, TX
TV: Big 12 Network
Internet: ESPN3
Time: 3:00 PM CST

AP Rankings: Oklahoma State – N/A, Texas Tech – N/A
RPI: Oklahoma State – #48, Texas Tech – #163 (BYU is #1 by the way)
Line: Oklahoma State -2
Behind enemy lines: Double T Nation

Homework:
Is it weird to anyone else that these two teams have the same Big 12 record? Early in the year they seemed basketball worlds apart, but Tech has strung together a pair of Big 12 wins including a 9-point victory against Iowa St. at Hilton on Wednesday night. Their 10-11 record probably belies their true identity when you take into account tough non-conference affairs against St. Mary’s, South Florida, TCU, and Washington.

Still, Tech is the only Big 12 team with a losing record and this is a game OSU should win and has to win to keep it’s ever-fading NCAA Tournament hopes alive. The Red Raiders don’t shoot the ball particularly well (35% from 3) and only have one big man of note, but they rebound hard and play pretty solid ball at home. In a lot of ways they’re kind of the middle-class man’s Oklahoma State. The problem for OSU is that it has been horrendous on the road this year. The Cowboys need to take control of this game from the beginning and command it going into halftime. I thought John Helsley brought up a great stat the other day in NewsOK when he said, “In four of their last five games, the Cowboys have been outscored 57-8 during decisive stretches spanning the few minutes on each side of halftime.”

If that happens today we can start filling out those NIT brackets.

What I’m worried about:
Mike Singletary — just the latest in a long line of Big 12 stars who pose matchup problem for the Cowboys. He’s too big for JPO to handle and too athletic for Moses. The 6’6” swingman from Kingwood, Texas has been their go-to guy for the last two years and is so again this year, as proven by his 14 PPG and latest near triple-double outburst against the Cyclones (33-10-6). Plus he has the entire book of Isaiah tattooed on his left arm. Seriously, you’ll see it today.

Two random stats that (probably) only interest me:
Moses currently has 635 career rebounds and needs to average 11/game the rest of the regular season to crack OSU’s all-time top ten.

Keiton is the only starter in the Big 12 who hasn’t missed a free throw. And I give you permission to curse the Pistols Guy name when he clanks his first two today…

Video to get you ready:
Remember this?

Also, why does it sound like a cat was intermittently running the video camera and scratching its claws on a textured wall?